The Last Mazoku
by Tellemicus Sundance
Summary: Seven hundred years he's waited, sitting on his throne. Now, as his life and strength dwindle, he has finally lost his patience. He seeks the one thing that still remains of his old lover. He seeks his heir... ON HIATUS!
1. The Heir

The Last Mazoku

By: Tellemicus Sundance

Chapter 1--The Heir

Hokushin watched his great master from the darkness, ready to jump forward at a moment's notice. He could only stare in depressed sympathy for his slowly dying master.

It had been more than seven hundred years since he'd last eaten. His once unfathomable strength had been reduced to only a little over two hundred thousand, a slightly high S-Class demon. But where his power had grown weak, his ferocity had increased to an equal amount. Hokushin honestly believed that Raizen could do battle with an opponent who now surpassed him in strength and still win due to that ferocity.

But, unlike any other day, something besides his hunger was troubling him. After keeping a careful eye on him since becoming his second-in-command, Hokushin was much more well-versed in his mentor's moods and expressions. And what he saw now was usually something that he reserved for a big fight or battle that he knew he was about to enter; impatience.

"May I ask what ails you, Raizen-sama?" Hokushin asked politely, earning an almost calculative glance from his master.

"I grow impatient of waiting for him to arrive," he answered after a moment, in his usual deep, growling voice. "It's been over seven hundred years."

"Who, Raizen-sama?" Hokushin asked, quite curious now.

The great Mazoku only chuckled for a moment as bittersweet memories rose up in his mind. Taking on an almost depressed gaze, he stared almost longingly at entrance to his throne room; practically begging some mysterious person to suddenly enter.

Hokushin was almost sure that his question would remain unanswered until a nearly silent sound disturbed the air of the room.

"My heir," was the sound.

* * *

"Urameshi Yusuke!" called the furious voice of one furious teacher. 

Any other child would've shrunk away at the tone used, but not the dark-haired eight-year-old boy in question. If anything, the boy didn't even hear the sounds of the man quickly approaching. Or the chanting and screaming of his fellow classmates. Not the sobs and cries of pain from his victim. Nor the futile and disbelieving cries of his only friend trying to make him stop.

All Yusuke saw was the mocking face of the boy underneath him.

His fists were sore and covered with both his own and his victim's blood. But he didn't let such miniscule details interfere with his goal. That was to badly hurt the boy who'd said so many bad things about him and his best friend. To make this brat understand that _no one _picked on him or his friend.

The look in his hazel eyes was that of a demon, pure bloodlust.

Yusuke was only brought back into reality when a pair of strong hands grabbed his shoulders and yanked him non-too-gently off the bloody mess that was his hated victim. Before he could fully reorient himself, the teacher had a fistful of his hair and was dragging him away from the gathered mass of his classmates.

"_What _do you _think _you're _doing_, _brat?!_" the teacher half yelled, coming out partially as a snarl as well. Rather than let the young boy defend himself, the teacher continued to pull Yusuke away. "I've had _enough _of you and your _petty _fights! I'm going to expel you _this time _for _sure!_"

"Let go, teme!" Yusuke cried out as he futilely tried to pry the teacher's strong grip off of him. All he succeeded in doing was sealing his fate.

"Badmouthing a teacher?!" the man snarled, with a wicked looking sneer forming on his face. "You're most definitely not getting out of this one, Urameshi."

Yusuke trying, but not succeeding, at pulling himself away from the unjust authority figure while glaring and swearing in his most imaginative cuss words was the last time Yukimura Keiko saw her childhood best friend for the rest of the day.

* * *

He waited, centuries of training and battling teaching him the importance of patience. And with his own great power considerably reduced, he was extra careful not to be noticed. If he got caught now, he would be interrogated thoroughly on his master's strengths, plans, allies, weaknesses, everything. Then he'd be executed, without remorse or second thought. 

But this brutal fate would only be intensified if he caught was now, especially now. In the records room of the Reikai Check-in Station, home of the great King Enma. But that was why he kept one eye trained on the only known entrance into the room, literally. The other eye and the rest of his body was geared towards finding the necessary information.

After searching for nearly three hours for the correct name and time of death, Hokushin found the woman his great master had fallen in love with. From there, he carefully traced all her descendants through the ages. It amazed him how many ordinary humans he found that had once possessed his master's bloodline.

But, due to both their homeland beliefs and their own love of battle, nearly all of them were dead now. In fact, according to the evidence he had found, nearly all of Raizen's descendants had died in the last major war their homeland had been involved in. Some conflict called World War Two.

Though he tried to fight it for Raizen's sake, Hokushin couldn't help but to start believing that he'd waited too long. That all of his master's children were dead now. There would be no heir for his mentor to train and raise in his image. But then he found it.

One was still alive to this day, a young boy by the name of Urameshi Yusuke.

It was just as he was able to memorize the boy's address that he spotted a silhouette in the slightly ajar doorway. Hurriedly replacing the scroll he was reading back into its proper place, he pulled himself up onto the top of the considerably large shelf.

Suppressing his already diminished youki to nearly non-existent, he watched as the silhouette gradually took form. A very small form with a pacifier in its mouth. Which was grumbling softly to itself as it entered the record room, not noticing the door was ajar in its absentmindedness.

Smirking at the figure's inattentiveness, Hokushin turned and made his way stealthily towards the small hole he'd found. It took some considerable time, patience, and unholy flexibility to fit through the thin crack. Lucky for him, he had all three now that he knew where to find his prey.

* * *

Yusuke was in a foul mood, as the small pebble on the ground knew all too well. He'd been kicking it violently for the past three blocks as he sulked on his way home. He couldn't believe it, but his life had gotten much worse in less than an hour. 

Two hours ago, he'd been accused of beating up a fellow classmate who had done nothing to provoke the punishment. All accounts from the students in the classroom were that as soon as Yusuke had walked into the doorway, he went straight up to the boy and started hitting him. Yusuke's only comment was that the boy had insulted him, his family, and his friend.

If it had only been a case of his usual violence, Yusuke probably would've been issued his fourth detention for the week. But, thanks to the teacher who'd apprehended him, the accounts of the violence Yusuke displayed him as he dragged the struggling boy to the principal's office were greatly embellished. And all the cussing that Yusuke was yelling at the teacher for not listening to him only added fuel to the fire.

Now he was officially kicked out of Sarayashiki Elementary.

But the worst part, in Yusuke's eyes, was the fact that Keiko hadn't believed him when he told her what really happened. She didn't know that while he'd gone to the restroom to do his business, the boy and some of his friends had shown up. They had started hitting him, mocking his alcoholic mother and other things that he had no control over. They had even said that Keiko wasn't really his friend, only that she felt sorry for him. The boys had left shortly after. When Yusuke had finally recovered some of his breath after they'd stopped kicking him, he'd gone after the leader like charging bull.

Why were things so unfair for him? He hadn't done anything wrong! Sure, he got into a lot of fights and had short temper paired with a dirty mouth and a growing vocabulary of sarcasm. But he'd only gotten any of that because of how he was treated. There was only so much a child could take before they started lashing back at anything that looked at them the wrong way.

And for Yusuke, that was usually the teachers. Power-hungry, image and tradition-obsessed bastards and bitches who felt that he was far less than worthy of even licking the dirt off their shoes or high-heels!

"Sensei-teme" Yusuke grumbled for the umpteenth time as he once again kicked the pebble. What he really needed right now was a good fight to vent all his anger. While deep inside he knew it wouldn't solve his problems, he also knew it would make him feel at least a little better. Too bad he couldn't go beat the crap out of that teacher for causing the worst of his recent problems.

No, wait. The worst of his problems had nothing to do with teachers, bullying students, or even school. No, his real problem was his mother and her addiction to alcohol, partying, and, more times than not unfortunately, prostitution! If he didn't have to live with her anymore, if he could leave forever, things were bound to get better for him right?

But the problem with running away was simple. The farthest he could go was to Keiko's house because he had no other friends and no sane stranger would allow an eight-year-old boy to live by himself at wherever he wound up at. He'd be dragged back to his drunk mother within a few days. Gah, the horrors of modern society!

Without really paying any attention as to where he was going, Yusuke accidentally walked into a man who'd stopped in front of him. Recoiling, Yusuke glared up at the bald man who was staring at him with an expectant gleam in his eye and an almost unnerving small smile.

Growling, Yusuke snapped out, "What are you staring at, _old man?!_"

If anything, the small smile on the bald man's face grew by a fraction of a millimeter. This kid was very feisty, just like what he'd imagined his master had been like in his youth.

"Are you Urameshi Yusuke?" the bald man asked.

Narrowing his eyes up at the giant, Yusuke's face hardened as though he were preparing for a fight. "And if I am?"

"My name is Hokushin," Hokushin said as he bowed slightly, surprising the young boy. "I've been sent to bring you before my master. He wishes to meet you very badly."

Yusuke was so surprised by this strange man's actions that his only response was a stumbled stutter.

"My master wishes to meet you as soon as possible," Hokushin said, adding some firmness into his voice to let the boy know it wasn't a request. "We must leave at once, my master is a very impatient being."

"Why should I go with you, baldy?" Yusuke demanded, crossing his arms and trying to make himself look intimidating. The effect might've worked better if he weren't so small and young compared the giant in front of him.

As the man started to reach out to ruffle his already messy hair, Yusuke swatted the large arm aside. "Touch me again and I'll kick your ass, bastard!"

"You really shouldn't swear at such a young age, Urameshi-san," the man said, his smile growing slightly larger yet again.

"You still haven't answered my question!" Yusuke snapped, backing up to put a little distance between them.

Staring down at him, Yusuke could see the man's humorous expression wane a bit. Then he felt something weird brush up against him. Actually, he didn't feel anything physical. It was more of a feeling of touching, smelling, and seeing all combined into one; almost like a sixth sensory organ that he'd nearly forgotten how to use. But as soon as he'd felt the…thing, it disappeared.

"Wh-What was that?!" he yelped, jumped back and looking around for what he'd felt. Glaring accusing up at the man when he noticed his strange expression, he yelled out, "Did you do that?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!!"

"You have only a slightly larger than normal amount of reiki than other children your age…How pitiful," the man said, his expression changing to slightly annoyance. "Yet you also felt my presence while I was examining you. That means that your reiki awareness is somewhat better developed…That is…_strange_ for a human."

"What are you talking about?!" Yusuke demanded, raising his fists in preparation.

"I was assessing your strengths and weaknesses," the man said, closing his eyes as he considered this new information. "…You won't survive for long if we left for my master immediately. I guess I'll have to train you until you're a little stronger."

Finally fed up with this stranger, Yusuke snorted. Turning around to walk away, he called over his shoulder, "Go away, bastard! I'm not going anywhere with you!"

Yusuke had barely taken even half a step when the man suddenly appeared in front of him. Flinching back and stumbling, the young Urameshi dropped to the ground in his surprise.

"Then perhaps I should go with you," the man said, kneeling down to pick up the boy. "You can introduce me to your parents."

Swatting the man's hand away again, Yusuke stood up and glared at the man's face as he was now at his own height. "Leave me alone!"

Closing his eyes, the man nodded his head slightly as he began to think carefully. Yusuke turned to run away while he was distracted, but the man grabbed his shoulder. The strength in his grip was enormous, too much for him to wriggle out of.

Before Yusuke could swallow his pride and yell for help down the empty street, the bald man said, "Would you like to see something that I and my master can teach you, young master?"

Standing up but maintaining his hold, the man started to walk towards a nearby alley. Yusuke struggled to escape the whole way; pulling, kicking, punching, even girly stuff like scratching and biting. But the man didn't seem to even feel it!

When they were well inside the alley, the man held out his hand towards a nearby dumpster. "Watch closely, young master."

He wasn't sure what he was looking for. But a sudden blinding flash of light from the man's palm instantaneously captured his attention. Yusuke watched in awed fascination as the narrow beam of light crashed into the dumpster. The metal received a large dent and was thrown violently onto its side with a resounding crash.

While Yusuke was gawking in disbelief for a moment, the man was hurriedly looking around to guarantee that no one had noticed. Looking back down at the boy, the man grinned at Yusuke's expression.

"Are you interested now?" he asked, almost innocently.

"How'd you do that? Can you teach me?!" the first thought that went through Yusuke's head was how awesome it would be if he could do that to those bullies and teachers. Then they'd never try to pick on him or his friends again!

"I'll teach you how to do that on one condition, boy," the man said. "You have to come with me to meet my master afterwards."

"Why?" Yusuke demanded. "Why would he want to meet me in the first place?!"

"Don't you want to meet your father?" he asked, curious what the boy's reaction would be to that bit of bait.

As it turned out, he now had Yusuke's _undivided_ attention.

* * *

When her little Yusuke had finally come home, she should've been a bit more concerned. But at the time, her friends down at the bar were just getting things started for another liquor party that she was only too willingly ready to attend. 

"Urameshi-san," the strangely dressed man that followed Yusuke into the house greeted her with a formal bow. "My name is Hokushin and it is a pleasure to meet you."

"What do you want?" she demanded, very much in a hurry. The best part of the party was about to start and she wouldn't be caught dead being late to it! Taking another quick observation of the man's clothing, she said, "if you're here to take Yusuke into some kind of school, you might as well turn around and leave! I don't have the money to send him to another school for another year."

Bowing respectfully to the woman, Hokushin answered, "I have no intention of enrolling your son into a scholarship, Urameshi-san. I merely seek to train the boy. Teach him what my master has taught me, how to live your life to the best of your ability and resources."

"How much is this gonna cost?" she asked, snatching her purse and counting the money in it.

"I ask no charge of you, Urameshi-san," Hokushin answered, his head still bowed. "I merely request that, when the time comes, I shall be able to take young Yusuke-san to meet my master. My master has high hopes for this young boy."

Snorting slightly, she turned and hurried towards the door. As she was opening it, she called over her shoulder, "Fine then. Just make sure he's in bed at ten o'clock."

"Hai, Urameshi-san," Hokushin said, bowing again as she vanished out the door.

Standing up erect, Hokushin glanced down at his new charge. The boy had his arms crossed with a look of contempt on his face. The stretchy demon couldn't help but to grin slightly, it reminded him of Raizen-sama whenever he was in a particularly 'distasteful' mood.

"Don't say a word," the boy growled as the giant began to open his mouth. Turning, Yusuke walked over towards the farthest door without bothering to take off his shoes.

Following the boy, Hokushin soon found himself in the descendant of his lord's bedroom. It was small, simple, but homey with a definite feel of a young boy. Clothes were scattered everywhere, bits of torn or wrinkled paper were wedged in the corners, several books lay discarded in a crumpled heap, and there were pieces of broken action figures littering the small desk by the window.

"Teach me!" the boy's demand snapped him out of his observations. "Teach me now!"

The boy had taken a seat upon the stiff mattress that was his bed. Grasping the only chair in the room, the one by the desk, Hokushin sat down lightly and stared down at the boy. Yusuke returned his gaze with a glare, impatience about to cause him to snap again.

"What I'm about to teach you," Hokushin said quietly, forestalling the boy's wrath temporarily. "cannot be learned in an instant. It takes time, dedication, and talent. It will be _very_ hard work for you."

"Why?" Yusuke demanded, already peeved that Hokushin assumed he knew what Yusuke's limits were.

"Time: something we have a very short supply of before my master finally passes away," the demon said, ticking his fingers off with each point he made. "Dedication: once I start teaching you this, there is no going back. You have to learn what I have to teach, or you'll be killed when we go to see my master. Where we are going is extremely dangerous place to live, even for a being like me. While what I can teach you will protect you, it doesn't make you invincible. And finally, talent: which is all you seem to have. You were able to sense me scanning your reiki, which means you are unusually aware for a human."

"What's that mean?" Yusuke demanded. " 'for a human.' What's that mean? You're human too!"

Smirking knowingly, Hokushin just stared at the boy. This was going to be interesting teaching this boy, especially now since he'd caught on to his slip of tongue.

* * *

**(Author's Note) **Even though I have started yet another story, most likely another epic-length, it doesn't mean that _TLM_ is my primary story. No, that privilege still belongs to _Legacy II_. This story is just another plot idea that has been bouncing around in my head for the past six months and I just have to get it out! 

This story is also something of a 'vent' for me. Writer's block is coming much easier to me these days. I try to write _Legacy II _but lose interest quite fast or am pulled away for something. _TLM_ is method that I'm going to pursue for a while, by writing a different story for a little bit may inspire me to get back to work on _Legacy II_.

So, with that said, what do you guys think for a start? Please keep in mind that I don't know Yusuke's or Keiko's childhood personalities too well so most of these early chapters will be guesswork for me. If there are any ideas you may wish to provide to me that you think could be a good fit for the story, please tell me. I'm always open for new ones.

In essence, many of the chapters that pertain to Yusuke's and Keiko's childhood from this point to the start of canon are open. So if some of you want to see any 'guest appearances' before their actual introduction in canon, please tell me (with a possible scenario to fit their sudden appearance).

**_IMPORTANT!!!!_** I have some awful news for everyone involved. I now have a date to which I am being deployed finally. It is August 25, 2007. Needless to say, from that point my ability to write or update shall be drastically reduced for the next one and half years! Of course I shall continue to write whenever I have the chance.

I swear to you all that Chapter 3 of _Legacy II_ shall be posted before this unfortunate date. I swear to you all on my reputation as an author!


	2. Farewell, Ningenkai

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 2--Farewell, Ningenkai_

**Ningenkai  
****One week later…**

It was perhaps the quietest time of her life. Her teachers were all in very good moods, everyone in class was happy for a normal and 'safe' day at school. With the class bully and outcast now officially expelled out of the school, everyone was in much brighter spirits.

Except Keiko.

No more did she have to hang onto Yusuke's hand to make sure he came to or stayed in class. No more did she have to keep watch over him to make sure he didn't fall asleep in class. No more did she have to make promises of explaining the lessons to him after school. No more did she get to spend her free periods talking with and controlling her best friend to keep him from getting into yet another fight.

It was like a hole had opened inside her. Everywhere she went something was missing now. She just couldn't concentrate on her schoolwork anymore. Questions to what he was doing now kept running through her mind. Was he at the arcade again? Was he trying to pick a fight with some junior or high school students like he'd always boasted that he wanted to? Was he lying in some alley bleeding and dying?!

It was nothing short of a wonder that she'd managed to get through school without one of the teachers giving her detention for lack of class participation and attention. Today, instead, one of them had given her extra homework to be completed by the next day.

"Why?" she kept asking herself.

So many of her questions started with that single word. Why had Yusuke been so unfairly treated when none of it was his fault? Why was she starting to be treated unfairly by the same teachers, even though she had been a model student until recently? But, most important of all, why hadn't Yusuke tried to talk to her after school? Each time she tried to call him, the phone would ring endlessly without an answer. Each time she spotted him standing near his window, he never noticed her when she called out to him. Why was Yusuke ignoring her?

At the moment, she was now walking slowly down the street towards her home. Normally, Yusuke would be at her side, trying to act macho by having a scowl on his face, arms crossed behind his head with his backpack hanging limply from her shoulders. She could see it all so clearly in her mind…

But he wasn't there anymore.

"Yusuke," she whispered sadly, a tear sliding down her cheek. She was a very open child, thus she had shed many tears in the past week.

"Who-suke?" a familiar voice demanded from behind her.

Snapping around in surprise, Keiko found herself face-to-face with Yoshiro Kensuke. Keiko only knew him as the boy who had always fought with Yusuke the most. The eight-year-old boy was large for his age, his arms thicker than Keiko's thighs and he had pot-belly that was more than just baby-fat. His small eyes and bulky nose marked him as a person who preferred to use his fists to solve problems than his brain.

Snapping his fingers as though he suddenly remembered, Kensuke gave her an ugly leer with his wide and chubby cheeks. "Oh yeah! That stupid loser whose always hanging around you! Well, good riddance I say!"

Something sparked to life in Keiko as Kensuke said that. It was something that her quiet, modest personality rarely showed. But when it did make an appearance, it was scary. That 'thing' was anger.

"You don't know anything about Yusuke!" Keiko said in a rather loud voice. "so please don't make fun of him when he can't--"

"He can't what?" Kensuke interrupted, his leer turning into a smirk. "Beat me up? Run to you? Run to his mommy like the baby he is?" Here he broke out laughing.

Irrational anger began to build. She couldn't stop it. With every ounce of strength she could muster, her little fist slammed into the Kensuke's face.

Recoiling as though he'd been hit by person at least twice as old and as strong as they were, Kensuke dropped to his rear. With wide, almost scared eyes, he stared up at her angry face as he cradled his injury. Seeing that the fire in her eyes was still blazing quite brightly, he turned and scrambled away her as though she had the chicken pox.

Panting heavily in the effort it had taken for her to not follow after the little punk, she visibly trembled in her anger. Then realization hit her like a mallet. _I just __**hit**__ him!_

She stared down at the hand that had struck Kensuke as though it were a monster starting to grow out of her body. Keiko quickly turned around and ran the rest of the way to her family's restaurant home. But her mind was abuzz with whirling thoughts. _I can't believe I just did that! I'm the class model student! I can't start hitting boys because I lost my temper. Even if the jerk was a bully!_

No, it was _Yusuke's_ job to hit people, she realized. Now she missed him even more. But oddly enough, it actually felt…_good_ to hit Kensuke.

* * *

The boy had some real talent. Of that, Hokushin was fast to realize. It hadn't taken long after explaining to the boy about his ancestry and already the boy was prancing about the warehouse like it was his very own castle. _Perhaps I shouldn't have explained it to him so quickly…_

At the moment, the boy was sitting on the filthy floor. He had his eyes closed, face scrunched up with intense focus, and sweat was dripping down his face and limbs at a steady rate.

"Remember, young master," Hokushin uttered quietly, careful to use a soothing voice to not break Yusuke's concentration. "Reiki is not an energy like your stamina, it is powered by your very life force…Feel for it circling you at your center…try to pull some of it out…"

Where a normal child would've taken several months to even start to feel the presence of their reiki, Yusuke was already starting to focus it into a weapon after only a week of intense practice. If Hokushin hadn't known of the sheer potential a being of the Mazoku bloodline could possess, he'd have called Urameshi Yusuke an unnaturally gifted youth.

After a slight groan of exertion, the boy did it. Hokushin could feel the minute amount of reiki flare up from boy's body. It wasn't very strong, even an E-Class youkai, lowest of the low, could've beaten the minuscule spike that the boy had just conjured up. However, it was the first true sign. The boy was progressing fast!

Then the reiki vanished and Yusuke collapsed forward. He didn't even have the strength of will or body to catch himself, ending up crumpled on the dirty floor. Hokushin smiled, remembering a similar experience from his own youth. Back when his own youki was so weak that even the mere act of focusing it drained him of his energy.

"Don't worry, young master," Hokushin said comfortingly as he knelt down to pick the boy up. "The first few times are the hardest. But the more you use it, the easier it becom--"

"Don't…touch…me," Yusuke snapped out between pants. He was not going to accept help from Hokushin for merely trying to sit up. No way!

A small smirk escaped Hokushin. Truly, the more time he spent with the boy, the more he could see a child version of Raizen-sama. The resemblance, maybe not in appearance, in their natures and personalities was almost uncanny.

Glancing around, he mentally calculated how much time was left before the portal to top level of Makai would open here. Not much time, an hour perhaps.

He had returned to Raizen-sama's tower after he'd infiltrated the Reikai records room to enlist aid. Because they knew that Reikai would send their soldiers to any area that even remotely resonated of youkai energies, they had to plan the openings of the tunnels carefully. This abandoned factory was thirty miles east of Yusuke's home and over two thousand miles away from the portal that he'd arrived in seemed like a pretty good spot.

When Hokushin had hinted to Yusuke that he'd be taking him to a different world, the boy had quickly figured it out and had literally been bouncing off the walls and ceiling in his excitement. Finally he could get away from his alcoholic mother, not have to worry about image-obsessed teachers, or homework! He would be going to an almost-heaven, one where he could let his fists do his talking for him!

But then he'd never see Keiko again…

"Hey, Stretchy," Yusuke said, ignoring Hokushin's irritated glance. "Will I be able to come back here once in a while?"

"Possibly," the youkai said, nodding slightly. "It takes a lot of time and energy to open a portal between the worlds. I know for a fact that my men back in Makai won't be able to generate a new one for at least another ten years at their current strengths…" Seeing Yusuke's slightly depressed expression, he quickly added, "but there is always the chance that you'll stumble across an open one for yourself. Random portals do open on occasion in Makai."

Before further discussion could begin, a sudden burst of static and lightning filled the warehouse. Hokushin spotted the source quickly, a portal was opening. _So soon? _He questioned himself. _…Something must be wrong, we better not waste any time_.

"Come, young master," Hokushin said, beckoning Yusuke to follow him as he approached the hole that appeared and was floating in midair. "we must hurry! Bad people could be after us!"

"Who?" Yusuke asked, walking cautiously forward.

"Enemies of your father," Hokushin said quickly, surveying the wormhole and searching the warehouse to be sure that they weren't falling into a trap. So far, everything seemed clear. A small hand grabbing tightly onto his fingers brought his eyes down toward his young ward. The boy was staring intently at the portal, as ready for the jump as he'd ever be.

"I'm ready," he said quietly.

"Then let us go," Hokushin said, nodding before walking through the portal.

Just before the hole between worlds closed behind them, Yusuke looked back for one last view of Earth. But the sight of an abandoned warehouse left much to be desired for the eight-year-old.

* * *

"They've taken the bait," reported one of the observers. 

"Alright," the leader said. "Men, prepare for battle!"

"Yes sir!"

* * *

(Author's Note) 

I needed a break from my Legacy story. I know that this is pathetically short compared to what I usually write in quantity, but I'm also trending in unknown waters here. A little feedback of if I'm doing things right or not would be helpful.

Japanese terms I'll be using a lot in this story.  
Makai--the Demon world  
Meikai--the Netherworld (analogue for Hell)  
Ningenkai--the Human world (Earth)  
Reikai--the Spirit world (analogue for Heaven)  
Reiki--Spirit Energy  
Youkai--demon, apparition, ghost  
Youki--Demon Energy


	3. A Soul's Journey

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 3: A Soul's Journey_

**Makai  
****7:43am**

Yusuke's first view of the world that his youkai father lived in was that of endless swamp and marshlands, reaching as far as the horizon. If he'd had the chance, he might have gawked as he stared the minuscule, misshaped creatures the size of fleas that were milling about on the murky ground below him. But Yusuke was too busy falling to pay it much mind.

As soon as he and Hokushin had left the strange portal behind them, they had emerged ten of thousands of feet into the skies above Makai. They were falling at exhilarating speeds which were rapidly increasing. The fierce winds, which contained a vile scent of rotting flesh and blood, were blowing steadily across his face. It almost made him want to vomit!

Complete weightlessness overcame his senses, his stomach nearly jumping up his throat and out his mouth; metaphorically of course. A rush of pure, unadulterated adrenaline pumped through his body with the force and momentum of a steam-engine train.

He didn't know when it started. But in no time, he was laughing so hard from the thrill of free fall that he was left breathless. Oh, he was scared of falling to his death. But the rush of this dangerous descent was a drug he'd never tasted before!

Hokushin, merely an arm's length away, had a slight grin on his face when he heard Yusuke's growing laughter. And here he had thought that the boy would start crying out and panicking. Especially since Hokushin had neglected to tell him that the portals into Makai usually were very high in the air.

As he fell, Hokushin peeled off the top half of his clothing. With a mere flex of his energy, the parasite on his back that had restrained his energy was separated and blown off.

Opening his newly awakened reiki senses to the world, he quickly felt the energies of the youkai that lie below them. _Hm, mostly D-Class water youkai down there_, he realized. Glancing off to the northern horizon, he spotted a signature rock cliff landmark. _How fortunate, we must be in the Dead Man's Swamp_…_a good week's run from Raizen-sama's domain_.

"Hey, Stretchy!" Yusuke's voice called out, drawing him from his musings. "I really don't wanna die right now! So please save me!"

Smiling, Hokushin stretched his arm a bit, grabbed Yusuke's billowing shirt, and easily deposited the small boy onto his back. When he had latched onto his backside with all the strength his small arms could muster, Yusuke watched with controlled fear as they continued their descent.

Just as they reached the ground, Hokushin reached back and securely held Yusuke to his back to prevent him from accidentally sliding off. Then he landed surprisingly lightly on the mushy surface, sinking several inches in the process. If Hokushin hadn't been holding onto him, Yusuke felt sure that he'd have been thrown off his back and collided with the ground very, _very_ hard.

However, as soon as the youkai had removed his hand, Yusuke fell to the muddy ground anyway. With the thrill and fear of the fall over, his body was left twitching uncontrollably from the adrenaline that was still flowing through his bloodstream. Yusuke was so focused on getting his panting breath under control again that he didn't realize that he was currently sitting in a pile of slimy green and black muck. But he _did_ notice that it stank horribly.

Hokushin peered down at the boy. His face was unnaturally pale and he was wheezing very heavily. Those were common symptoms that humans displayed when they entered Makai. But where untrained humans were quickly drained of their energy and die, those that had some experience with using reiki would be able to adjust quite quickly.

As he watched, Yusuke's wheezing very slowly normalized, small amounts of red soon returning to his cheeks as well. He would be fine.

"Young master," he said as he plucked his feet from where they'd sunk and turned to crouch down next to his charge. "I feel I should tell you something. With how strong you currently are, it will take us several weeks to reach your father's kingdom. However, we could arrive there much faster should you allow me to carry you on my back…Would you consent to that?"

"How far is it?" Yusuke asked slowly. Glancing down, he finally realized just where he was sitting. "Eww! Gross!" Jumping up, he tried to find some firmer ground to stand upon but there was none available.

"Little bit more than five thousand miles from here," Hokushin said. Seeing the boy's momentary gawk, he continued, "Like I said, it would take you weeks currently to arrive."

For a moment, Yusuke just wasn't able to speak. Then he finally turned and stared off unseeingly into the distance, thinking of his opinions. He really did want to get there to meet his ancestral father, but at the same time he wanted to see more of this strange, new world. Then again, he would probably be here for some time as it was. Why should he rush to see a world he was probably going to quickly memorize in a few short years anyway?

After wiping and smearing as much of the muck off of his loose pants as he could, he turned to Hokushin and nodded. As soon as he was securely in place, Hokushin took off at his best possible speed.

Yusuke's adrenaline had returned in an instant. He'd never gone so fast before!

* * *

**Ningenkai  
****Five days later…**

She just couldn't stand it any longer!

With a resolute setting of her jaw, Keiko marched over to the house next to her home and her family's restaurant. In her worry, impatience, and slight anger for the boy that lived in this house, Keiko's knuckles on the front door sounded more like a mallet than her usual gentle knocking.

Waiting for a moment with her arms stiffly at her sides, she strained her ears to hear any movement inside. There came a slight scuffling about, a shattering sound, and a few colorful but muffled cuss words before the door opened. A slightly disgruntled Urameshi Atsuko still dressed in her nightgown stood in the doorway.

"Oh, good morning, Keiko-chan," she muttered, barely stifling a yawn and leaning rather heavily on the door frame. "…what can I do for you?"

"Gomennasai, Urameshi-san," Keiko said, reining in the explosive impulses she had prepared for Yusuke had he answered the door. "I wanted to see if Yusuke-kun could come out. I haven't seen him for days."

"Is that so?" Atsuko asked, becoming more aware by the moment. "Gomen, Keiko-chan, but Yusuke isn't here anymore."

For one infinite moment, Keiko's world stopped moving, completely. "…What?"

"I think he ran off again," Atsuko said, a slight amount of concern making itself known to her. "I only noticed a few hours ago that he was missing…I had thought that he was just at your place again."

Shaking her head, Keiko felt her eyes beginning to grow wet. Yusuke wasn't at her house, she'd even checked before she left!

"Keiko!" her mother called from the doorway to her house. Turning to look at her mother, the little girl spotted the slight frown of disappointment on her face as the woman continued, "Could you please come here for a moment?"

"Hai!" she called back. Turning to Atsuko, she gave a formal bow of farewell before hurrying over to her mother.

Something was wrong, she could already see that. Her mother was frowning quite deeply, guiding her further inside their house. Even her father shot her a strange look before returning to the meal that he was currently cooking for the couple seated at the counter.

Up in her room, Keiko knelt down on the floor and waited for her mother to join her. Sitting across from her, her mother reached into her pocket and extracted a folded sheet of paper. Holding it up, she gave it to Keiko to read.

It was a school report written by her teacher. In the past two weeks, Keiko's grade point average had drastically dropped. No longer were her grades among the top of the class, they were still slightly above average though. Written at the bottom was a note from the teacher that Keiko was spending more and more time daydreaming and not even paying attention to class.

Her temper, which had first truly sparked almost a week ago, had caused her to get into more arguments with her fellow students than she had ever gotten into in the past two years combined. The last argument with some of the boys who had always used to gloat Yusuke had been so fierce that both she and the boys had gotten detention!

"Can you please explain this to me, Keiko-chan?" her mother asked, a frown marring her face.

"I was—I was worried—about Yusuke-kun, kaasan," she muttered weakly.

"I know you are," her mother admitted. "But that does not explain the arguments and the detention. You know that your father and I do not approve of this kind of behavior."

Dropping her head submissively, Keiko couldn't form an adequate response so she remained silent. After a moment of silence, she peeked up at her mother and saw that she was still awaiting an answer.

"They were picking on Yusuke-kun," she uttered. "I couldn't let them do that, not when he wasn't even able to defend himself."

"Keiko," there was a clear reprimand in her voice. "It is not your job to fight Yusuke's battles for him. Besides, why should you care what those boys think of Yusuke? They probably didn't even know that well anyway."

It was happening again. Very slowly, her anger was beginning to rise. "But you've always told me to watch out for my friends and to not let others pick on them, no matter what the reasons!"

Her mother blinked in surprise at Keiko's fast rising voice. It was quite unusual for her sweet daughter to lose her temper so easily. "Yes, I have," she replied. "But the fact of the matter is that you also got a detention because you wouldn't listen to the teacher when he told you stop."

"Fujiwana-sensei didn't tell them to stop until I told them to shut up!" Keiko's voice was quickly rising in volume, almost to the point of yelling. "And he was always giving Yusuke detentions for no reason!"

"Yukimura Keiko!" her mother snapped fiercely. "You stop behaving like a little brat!"

"_I'm not being a brat!_" Keiko yelled, angry and feeling very scandalized. "Fujiwana-_sensei_ was being _mean_ and you're not being _fair, kaasan!!_"

Standing up abruptly, her mother moved to the door. Before she left, she turned and said simply. "You will not have any dinner or come out of your room until you've calmed down and done your homework."

With that said, she closed Keiko's door. Only a moment later, she heard a loud thud sound of something slamming into the door behind her. If she was right, Keiko had just thrown her textbooks at the door in her anger. She could only hope that whatever Keiko was going through would pass…and quickly.

**

* * *

Makai, Raizen's Domain  
****Two days later, 6:30pm**

Yusuke stared at the strange fortress that stood before him. It was a gigantic canyon-shaped depression in the earth. Rising out and high above the surface was numerous pillar-shaped buildings. With his very slowly growing sense of reiki awareness, Yusuke was able to feel the presences of nearly many youkai within each of those structures.

Yet the thing that drew his attention was not only the largest pillar but it also contained a solitary presence within. And what a presence it was! It struck Yusuke as highly fitting that whoever was inside that skyscraper of a tower was also the strongest. The sheer size of the tower, probably twice as tall as the tallest building on Ningenkai, was symbolic to the amount of power held within when compared to all the others.

"Wow," was all he could say.

"As you may have already guessed," Hokushin said. "Raizen-sama is at the top of that tower there."

Throwing the badly sweating and panting youkai a 'no duh!' look, Yusuke nodded. Turning back to the view, Yusuke was about to ask a question of how many others there were inside. But his empty stomach let out a loud growl in complaint.

"I see you're hungry," Hokushin observed quietly.

"Hai," Yusuke said. "Can I get something to eat before—?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to deny that," Hokushin interrupted. "It would be wisest for you to not meet Raizen-sama after just eating."

"Why not?!" Yusuke demanded, very peeved.

Smiling knowingly, Hokushin just said, "You'll find out soon enough, young master."

* * *

**Later…**

Never had Yusuke been so tired before. He had just spent the last hour and a half climbing the seemingly endless staircase to the top of Raizen's tower. Even though he used a bit of his reiki to strengthen his leg muscles, he was still too weak and inexperienced to effectively use it.

Now, after what felt like forever to him, he stood before a large and elaborate pair of doors. Rather than enter immediately, like he'd planned on doing his entire trip up, he sat down on the floor to catch his breath and rest his sore muscles.

He was so tired in fact that he was actually starting to doze off when he heard it. It was a loud, deep chuckle from a voice that sounded like gravel grinding against wood. Snapping awake instantly, he glared at the pair of doors from which the noise was coming from.

"What's the matter, child?" the voice called, more than loud enough to be clearly heard. "Too tired to open a pair of doors? Heh, you're such a weakling…Maybe I should just send you back to Ningenkai?"

Something snapped in Yusuke. Jumping to his feet with no regard to his earlier exhaustion and hunger, he rushed to the doors and heaved them open. It took all his strength to manage, but he was able to do it.

Crawling through the small opening he'd managed to make, he rose and glared evilly at the man-like creature that sat on a strange looking throne on the other side of the room. Unlike what he had originally wanted to do when he finally met his father, Yusuke glared at the man who had not only insulted him but threatened to send him away without even an introduction.

This reaction caused the ancient, white-haired creature to chuckle some more. "What's the matter, too macho to give your old man a hug?"

"Shut up, teme!" Yusuke yelled. "I came here for one reason: to learn how to fight! Now teach me!"

Raizen just smirked at the boy's attitude. It was almost like watching a mini-version of _himself_ at that age. _He had probably given Hokushin a good amount of humor as well_, Raizen guessed absentmindedly.

Stretching out his senses, he searched for the boy's reiki. It was there; only a tiny bit stronger than the average human child at his age. But it was nowhere near the amount necessary to even generate a single reiki attack without knocking the boy unconscious for the rest of the day.

"No," he said sternly. "You're too weak."

"_WHAT?!_" the boy yelled in disbelief.

"You can't even fully utilize your reiki yet, can you?" Raizen asked, already knowing the answer. "If I tried to train a flea like yourself, you'd die within moments."

"Oh really?" the boy demanded. A smirk slowly spread across his face as he grabbed his right wrist with his left hand.

In the span of five seconds, the boy's reiki began to slowly increase, rising to almost double its previous level. A small of light appeared at the tip of the boy's outstretched right index finger. The boy was channeling as much of his reiki into that single bead of light as he could, though it didn't even grow past the size of a small marble.

"_How's this?!_" the boy cried as he fired the shot. "Meet my Reigun!"

Yusuke's Reigun was his pride and joy. He had created the last day he was in Ningenkai in an attempt to replicate Hokushin's blast. Unfortunately for him, he'd found that he couldn't perform the attack the same as Hokushin who had used his full hand. It took too much effort for him to concentrate his reiki into such a broad area. It was much easier to do it in his fingertip.

In an effort to surprise Hokushin, he had kept it secret as well as the fact that he'd learned to momentarily raise his level reiki to greater levels of power.

But his pride was blow to the side as was his Reigun by what Raizen did in response. The youkai had merely inhaled deeply and blew out a sharp blast of breath that knocked the pitifully weak Reigun aside. The energy crashed into the wall behind Raizen, only making a crater the size of the boy's fist.

Because he had sent all his energy into that single attack, Yusuke's body strength vanished an instant later. He fell to his hands and knees, wheezing very heavily as the dark edges of unconsciousness began to crawl across his eyesight.

Chuckling again at the boy's bravado, Raizen stood and walked over to where his descendant lay, moments from falling unconscious.

"Well, boy," he said, squatting down near him. "I must admit that was impressive for a brat your age."

This earned a weak glare from the boy. "Sh-shut up!"

"What's your name, boy?" Raizen demanded.

"Ura…meshi Yu…suke," he gasped out.

"Urameshi Yusuke, eh?" he repeated, imprinting it into his memory. At the boy's nod of acknowledge, he dropped the bombshell. "Not anymore, it isn't." Seeing Yusuke look at him in surprise, he continued, "Until you are strong enough to defeat me in combat, your name from until then will Raizen, like myself. Understand?"

Though he hadn't yelled or shown any outward signs of anger, he had raised his level of youki. Tainting the youki with a sliver of his wrath and bloodlust, it helped to accent his final word. Even the most reiki-ignorant human could've sensed just what he was projecting towards the boy, leaving absolutely no room for denial.

The newly-named Raizen nodded slowly before finally succumbing to his exhaustion.

**

* * *

(Author's Note)** Well, that's it for Chapter 3. I must admit that I had a lot of fun writing this chapter for some reason. 

I have some very unfortunate news for my _Legacy_-fans. It seems that I've befallen a rather fierce writer's block for that story. I just can't seem to get past a certain on the current chapter. I'm trying everything I can to get back into the flow, but with how busy I'm becoming here at work, it doesn't seem too likely that an update will be in the near future. Plus, I've been focusing a lot of my attention on helping FictionReader98 write the _Ninja Clash_ story.

Translations:  
Kaasan—mother  
Gomennasai/Gomen—I am sorry/Sorry  
Reigun—Spirit Gun


	4. Six Years Later

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 4: Six Years Later…_

**Ningenkai  
****Sunday, 8:30pm**

Yukimura Keiko's life had recently taken a new, _drastic_ change.

After needlessly saving the life a small boy and dying, she had been taken to the Reikai Check-in Station to meet the 'great Koenma' in hopes of being brought back to life. After three weeks, a lot of rushing and waiting, frustrations, and a nearly missed deadline to which she'd have to wait another fifteen months, she had finally been brought back to life.

Right now she was almost finished with her first serious assignment as the Reikai Tantei of Japan. The big brute Gouki, who had the Orb of Baast in his possession, had underestimated her abilities and cunning greatly. The end result being he was now a full head shorter. She'd incinerated his ugly horned face with a point-blank Reigun blast to his mouth which she had jammed open with a log.

Next Kurama, who had quite willingly returned the Forlorn Hope to Keiko and Botan after using it to save his human mother's life. He had gone to Reikai without complaint or a struggle last she had heard, probably to be released on good behavior and noble intentions.

But now it was finally Hiei's turn. It quickly became apparent to Keiko that the triclops had been watching her slowly acquire the previous two artifacts. He had lured her to an abandoned warehouse with orders to present him with the two artifacts or he'd kill her mother, whom he'd taken hostage.

Ever since that fateful argument all those years ago, Keiko had made a drastic change in her personality and relationships with others. She was now the outcast of the school, much like her long-lost friend had been. And though slowly over time she had forgotten his face and name, the injustice that had befallen him remained forever burnt into her memory. With her temper rising out of control, Keiko turned to an unlikely place to vent it: through her fists. She had found that it was very satisfying to vent her anger and frustrations that way. Thus she had gotten into countless numbers of fights, in the past three years especially.

No longer did she try to pay attention in class, often she would skip out for days on end. Only showing up whenever there was an important test or quiz. But on those tests, she always scored high enough to prevent the teachers from being able to kick her out, despite how much she 'tainted the reputation of the school.' And her relationship with her parents, her mother especially, had taken a big hit. She was quite disrespectful and insolent, hardly ever giving her parents' lectures on how she could 'stop all those fights and get her life back on track' any real attention.

But despite how far apart they had grown in the past few years, Keiko held her parents very close to her heart. That was why she would have happily rushed into the bawls of hell to save them, without hesitation or remorse for those who would dare try to prevent or hinder her.

Resolved in her anger at Hiei and strengthened by her determination, Keiko was able to momentarily take the three-eyed youkai by surprise and land the first punch. Hiei was hurriedly reevaluating his opinion of her fighting skills as he recovered from the blow.

He knew that she was fast and very agile. Most female fighters of just about every known species in any of the three worlds were. Yet he had thought that he was faster. But now it appeared that this rather athletic human bitch was even nimbler on her feet than he'd originally anticipated.

"What was that, Yukimura?" he demanded, standing up and gripping the Shadow Sword tightly to reassure himself it was still in his grasp. "You weren't that fast earlier or when you fought against Gouki."

Keiko's dangerous glare never faltered as she answered. "In case you've _already forgotten_, that is my _mother_ you're trying to turn into a demon there."

"I see now," Hiei said, bringing his hand to feel his aching jaw. That punch had hurt…a lot. "You're a decent fighter on your own, but when people you care for are in trouble, your strength increases considerably…I _hate_ people like you."

That statement drew a grin to Keiko's face.

"But don't let that one punch go to your head, Reikai Tentai," Hiei continued. He was growing increasingly nervous at having to fight a person who was rapidly becoming his equal. Boasting was one of his more arrogant means of boosting his confidence and trying to dwindle his opponent's. "Like an amateur, you didn't take advantage of the situation and gotten the sword back. And I _promise_ I won't be dropping my guard any longer."

"Are you done yet?" Keiko demanded with her grin still in place. "Or can I get back to breaking your teeth?"

"Come on then!" Hiei yelled, launching himself off the box and into the air with all the speed he could muster.

In an attempt to get a better position to attack him from, Keiko sprung up on a particularly high stack of boxes and was carefully trying to track his movements. But because he was armed with a sword that could turn her into a youkai if it cut her, she was being even more careful to keep track of him. Stretching out her rapidly improving reiki awareness, she followed his jumps and lunges easily.

"Can you keep up, bitch?" he asked, continuing to stalk of his prey. "You humans have such slow eyes. Come on, _where am I?!_"

Arrogant as could be, Hiei could feel her trying to track him. But he was practically certain in his assumption that he was _much_ too fast for her to react when he decided to make the fatal strike.

"Prepare to become my slave!" he called, hefting the Shadow Sword in preparation.

He lunged in for the strike to cut and eventually transform her. As he drew nearer, he could practically smell his victory as the distance between him and her back closed to be only few feet apart with the sword posed and ready. Thus it was quite a surprise to him when she suddenly turned to face him, dodging around the descending sword blade with a fist already incoming.

The punch connected full force with his jaw, knocking him back the way he'd come. The strength in the punch was considerable, far more than most other guys her age group could boast of. But it was not enough to seriously hurt him, much less knock him out.

"You wanna know something, Hiei?" Keiko asked, glaring down at him as he picked himself out of the wooden crate that he'd crashed into. "The one thing I _hate_ more than being called a slut is guys thinking they're a _better_ fighter than me simply because they're _boys!_"

Rubbing his aching jaw, Hiei felt something warm get smeared onto his hand. Glancing down in surprise, he found that Keiko's punch had somehow been strong enough to give him a bloody lip. No human, much less a _girl_, had ever done that to him before!

Seeing him sending a glare up at her, Keiko smirked broadly. It was one of her more favorite hobbies to surprise the boys she fought with her incredible speed and agility. It was only a few times this past year had she ever been hit by one of her opponents because she was too slow.

Only Gouki had ever hit her more than three times in a single fight, and that was only because his blasted skin was so damn tough!

"Would you like to know something else?" she asked, gently channeling a small amount of her reiki through her leg muscles. Utilizing her speed, she dashed down next to the small demon and delivered a fierce kick to his side, knocking him into another crate.

"_None_ of my opponents _ever_ take me seriously until I have them kissing the pavement," she smirked as she knelt down and picked up the sword that Hiei had unintentionally dropped on his way through the first crate.

"Is that so?" Hiei asked, once again climbing out of the debris he'd made. Throwing his cloak off, he let out a loud chuckle as he continued, "Then allow me to start taking this seriously. Think of this as a compliment since I've never had to transform into my full form for a human before."

"What?" she asked, now sounding quite a bit more worried. _He wasn't at his full potential yet?_ _This could be bad_.

* * *

Outside the warehouse, Kurama was running as quickly as he could towards the rapidly increasing ki auras he had been sensing for the past ten minutes. 

That Reikai Tantei, Yukimura Keiko, and Hiei must've already started their battle. And if that smell that was starting to cover the area was any indication, it meant that Hiei was quickly being beaten down. Though he had not fought the young lady, Kurama had known in an instant that she was far stronger than she appeared.

But then again, so was Hiei. There was a reason why Hiei rarely used his full power when in battle: it wore him out _very_ quickly. This was because his body was still very unaccustomed to the immense strain the amplified Jagan eye put on him.

Stealthily entering the warehouse, he peeked over a row of cargo crates and spotted the two combatants. Hiei, complete with his green skin and numerous Jagan eyes opened across his body, was standing arrogantly on another crate. Keiko, dressed in her usual tan cargo pants and a high-cut black t-shirt that showed off her toned abdomen, was suspended in the air by rings of Hiei's youki.

As he watched his former partner-in-crime bring the Shadow Sword to bear down on Keiko, Kurama acted. He couldn't afford to use any of his favorite attacks because even a _flicker_ of youki would alert Hiei of his presence. That was why he quickly threw himself between the Shadow Sword's blade and Keiko's restrained body.

_I'll snatch it from him the moment I intercept_, he planned even as he rushed forward. _Then I'll have to help that shinigami prevent that woman's transformation._

A combination of bad luck and miscalculation on Kurama's part resulted in him being impaled on the sword. But being as he was already a youkai, the sword's powers would have no effect on him

Hiei and Keiko both gawked in apparent surprise at the red-haired teenager that had just seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"You really have gone insane!" was all Hiei could utter when he finally regained control of his vocal cords. "Why are you helping this bitch?!"

In response, Kurama merely cut his palm on the sword blade and sent a spray of blood into Hiei's face. Just like any normal being, Hiei stumbled back with a cry of surprise and pain as his eyesight was blinded momentarily. With his focus completely ruined, the energy bands binding Keiko were destroyed.

"Thanks, Kurama," she said, standing up somewhat weakly. Those energy bands had somewhat numbed her limbs when they made contact with her skin.

"Beware of Jagan on his forehead," Kurama said painfully, wincing as he extracted the stolen weapon from his gut. "The others are merely to amplify its power."

"Are you okay?" Keiko asked, quite concerned since she didn't want her rescuer to die.

"I'm fine, don't worry," he said, turning and began slowly stumbling towards Botan. "I'll use my power to prevent the sword's effect on that woman, you go fight Hiei."

"Hai," Keiko nodded, turning back to her opponent.

"Kurama!" Hiei growled out in a bestial tone, with every intention of killing the kitsune. "You traitor!"

"_I'm_ the one you should be worrying about!" Keiko snapped as she stepped in front of the small demon. Her eyes were narrowed in her concentrated anger, a vague silhouette of purple and red reiki billowing around her body.

Hiei glared at the teenaged girl. The glare was to hide his ever-growing growing concern. He was quickly seeing a pattern to the power surges that the girl exuded. She got a decent boost in strength when she realized that her mother's fate depended on her victory. But now as her anger grew stronger, so did her reiki. In fact, her amount of reiki potential had just surpassed his and was still rising! _I can't allow this to go on any longer!_

With a cry, he leapt forward with all the speed he could muster. Bringing his fist forward, he hit the girl right in her stomach. The blow sent her stumbling backward slightly as she grasped her injury with one hand.

With a sudden boost in confidence, he lunged to the side and swung his leg up. Yet he hit only air as Keiko ducked under his leg and slid behind him at speed that dwarfed her previous limits. His back became intimately familiar with her kneecap as it slammed into him. Using the momentum she'd given him, Hiei dropped his hands to the floor as his feet shot up and booted her in the chin.

Backing up slightly, Keiko glared at the youkai as her anger increased. With battle-cries, both lunged forward again, dashing to the side, jumping off crates and bouncing off walls, all at speeds that neither Botan nor Kurama could've easily tracked if they'd tried to glance away from their task at hand.

Finally landing a solid punch to her jaw, Hiei threw her into the wall with enough force to knock the air from her lungs. As he was dashing forward to land a fierce kick to her stomach, she rolled to the side. He hit the wall hard enough to cause cracks to spread out from his feet.

Using a combination of adrenaline and her reiki to ignore her growing injuries, Keiko spun around and delivered vicious right hook to Hiei's jaw. The fact that she had sent her entire body into the blow was part of the reason he was lifted clean off his feet and sent flying a respectable distance away.

Catching her breath while she could, a tiny glint of light out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. It was the Forlorn Hope. As she glanced at the small mirror, an idea suddenly struck her.

"My, my, Tantei," Hiei said as he climbed to his feet, once again rubbing his abused jaw. "You truly are something else… Perhaps I'll make you one of my prostitute slaves when this is all over."

"**_WHAT?!_**" If Keiko had been angry before, she was raging furious now! "I'M GONNA _KILL YOU, HENTAISHA!!!_"

Attacking in the blind rage she fallen into, Keiko paid no mind to anything around her except turning Hiei's face into a pile of mush. But her attacking such a fashion was exactly what the small green monster had planned on. He easily avoided her initial lunge and proceeded to throw her to the side with a strong kick.

Laughing uproariously at once again gaining the upper-hand, the Jagan warrior ran for Keiko's downed body. Pulling herself into a sitting position, she glared hatefully at the little man as he drew nearer. Then she spotted the Forlorn Hope, in perfect position.

In an instant, she brought up her hand and focused a vast portion of reiki into the tip of her index finger, helped along by the special ring Botan had given her prior this battle. A bead of magnificent purple light surrounded by a soft red glow appeared at the tip of her finger. It was Hiei's only warning before she fired the shot at near point-blank range.

"_Reigun!_" she yelled.

Of course, Hiei did the only thing any logical person would do in that position. He jumped easily over the energy bullet. "A very nice light show, Keiko," he said sneering as he landed. "Too bad all that energy was wasted on poor aim."

A sudden bright glow of purple behind his back was all the warning he got. Sadly for him, he was far from being prepared for it. The reflected Reigun bullet slammed into his back with all the force of a sledgehammer. Dropping to his knees, Hiei's strength faded rapidly.

"What happened?!" he demanded, trying to look over his shoulder in hopes of finding an explanation for how this human girl could possibly cause her bullet to rebound and hit him.

"I won, _duh!_" Keiko said, grinning as she leaned back against the wall. Boy did she feel tired after that one! Botan-san was right; the ring really did leave you exhausted after using it. "I reflected the shot off the Forlorn Hope."

Even as she was saying that, Hiei caught onto it as well when he spotted the shattered ruins of the small mirror. Looking back at the girl who'd beaten him, the Jagan eyes across his body closed and the green of his skin returned to a more humane coloring.

"That was pretty…clever," was all he could gasp out before succumbing to blissful unconsciousness.

Hurrying over to the discarded Shadow Sword, Botan snatched it and rushed back to Keiko's mother, fiddling with the base of the hilt. Feeling a sliver of her strength returning, Keiko weakly stood up and hurried to her mother's side as quickly as she could move.

She arrived in time to watch Botan dripping some green liquid out of the now-separated hilt and into her mother's mouth. Slowly, the Jagan eye on her forehead closed and then vanished.

Dropping down to the ground in a rather unladylike manner, Keiko let out a sigh of relief. That had a bit too close for comfort for a few moments.

"Keiko-chan," Botan said. "Your mother's going to recover. She'll probably wake up some time late tomorrow morning."

"That's good," she said, fighting to keep her eyes open. Boy was she tired!

"That was a very impressive display of fighting skills, Keiko-san," Kurama said, smiling from where he was leaning against one of the crates now that her mother was safe.

"I guess so," Keiko said, giving a small smile in return. "But I wasn't really trying to put on show."

Kurama only nodded at that statement.

"Keiko-chan, why didn't you tell me you could bounce the Reigun off mirrors?" Botan asked. "When did you learn that anyway?"

"About three days ago," she said smiling. "I needed to know what my Reigun could do in case I had to fight Kurama-san. I had been training in this old factory. It was actually an accident that I even found out in the first place though."

"An accident?" Kurama asked, slightly surprised to hear that.

"Well, I had been practicing on my aim at the time," Keiko quickly confessed, blushing faintly in embarrassment. "But a rat startled me and I ended up blowing up the side of a building when I hit minivan's driver-side mirror."

A memory fragment from a few days ago suddenly made a great deal more sense to Kurama now that he had the details. He couldn't suppress his chuckles at the irony of the situation she'd created at that time and place.

"I dare say, Keiko-san," he smiled slightly at her as he continued. "I somewhat look forward to the day where we must fight. It would most definitely be an interesting match."

"Yeah, maybe," she answered, smiling an almost sweet smile. "But you'll still lose!"

"Okay, that's enough, you two," Botan said, trying to prevent an argument from breaking out.

* * *

**(Author's Note)** One thing I've learned from my Legacy series is this: never follow too closely to the original storyline if you can help it. Sure, it's good to keep a few key elements the same but that's all. 

I know some of you aren't going to appreciate this chapter, I really don't myself either. I had originally intended to start it at the beginning of the series (where Yusuke first died), but I realized that what I had played wouldn't be at all different from canon for those first few episodes. That's why I decided to start here, where things would truly start to get different from canon while following the same general storyline.

I'm sorry if some of the paragraphs in Keiko's history seemed out of place but I wanted to get a bit of her new background established here and now before continuing.

Most of you can probably guess what's coming next. And I can honestly say that it will not all be as close to canon as this chapter was. To be honest, I'm rather looking forward to the whole Genkai Tournament arc myself. And if I'm excited about it, it usually means I've got a few ideas that will be quite interesting! So please enjoy it when it comes.

Until next time…

Hentaisha—pervert  
Kitsune—shape-shifting fox  
Reikai Tantei—Spirit World Detective  
Shinigami—death god


	5. Genkai's Tournament

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 5: Genkai's Tournament_

**Ningenkai  
****Friday, 7:30am**

It was a bright and beautiful morning to be taking a walk through the woods. The sun was out, with only a few clouds approaching from the horizon, a stiff breeze to cool the rising heat of the day, and moderate humidity. However, the day's good conditions did little to quell Keiko's slight temper and sweat that was rolling down her body.

If there was one thing that Keiko felt she really needed at this point was a nice, _long_ weekend. Particularly for this weekend; it was one of the rare three-days held by the torture-house known as school. And she was still fairly sore from her fight with Hiei, despite Botan's healing powers.

But, as her luck would have it, another case came up; one of extreme importance, nonetheless.

She had to infiltrate a tournament being held by an old woman named Genkai in an effort seek out a dangerous youkai. This demon, Rando, would without a doubt attend Genkai's tournament in order to learn her abilities and go on a ruthless killing streak across the Earth. As a bonus if Keiko was able to apprehend Rando, she'd receive the training from Genkai which shouldn't't be too hard, right?

But still, _why_ on _this_ weekend?!

What she found at the top of the stairs of a hill nearly the size of a mountain, Keiko found a massive crowd. There must've been easily a three hundred people (mostly men) there standing in the large clearing in front of an old-looking Buddhist temple.

Keiko did a double take as a prickle of something caressed her reiki awareness with the finesse of a feather. There was something…_strange_ about that temple. It seemed to resonate with a mysterious aura, like ripples in a pond but almost unnoticeable.

Noticing that she was attracting a lot of unwanted attention from just standing there at the entrance, she did the first thing that came to her mind. Lifting her chin high, she marched purposely into the midst of the crowd. Several conversations were abruptly silenced as the men and boys she passed noticed her, most with arrogant smirks or perverted leers.

It was against her initial desires that she ignored the looks she was receiving. The last thing she needed was to start a fight this many enemies.

"Yukimura?!" a surprisingly familiar, deep voice called from the crowd to her left.

Coming to an abrupt halt, she turned and gawked at her red-haired school rival in combat skills, since she was way smarter than him. It was Kuwabara Kazuma. Keiko had known him for nearly two years and she had a sneaking suspicion that he had a crush on her. Due to all the fights she'd gotten into with him, she had learned a fair deal about his personality and his Honor Code. And though he positively abhorred fighting girls, it seemed that she was the only exceptions due to all the times that she'd smashed his face into concrete.

Curiosity got the better of her and she quickly walked over to him.

"Kuwabara?" she asked, letting her honest surprise flood her voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I've got good reasons," the tall punk said, crossing his arms almost protectively over his chest.

Smirking dismissively, Keiko turned to walk away. "Yeah, right. Let me guess, here to learn from the old lady so you _might_ be able to beat me some day?"

Having struck a nerve, Kuwabara lashed out and grabbed a handful of Keiko's sleeveless white shirt and roughly yanked her around to face him. "I'm not here to learn anything, Keiko! And besides, last time didn't count. _You_ weren't playing by the _rules!_"

"How are there any rules in fighting?" she asked, smirking despite the position he now held her at. "Besides, a quick groin shot is the _best_ way to win."

"_It's dishonorable!_" Kuwabara yelled into her face. "Using a man's weakness like that!"

"It got the job done, didn't it?" that smirk of hers only widened as she watched his red face continue to redden from either embarrassment, anger, or some combination. Deciding she'd had enough fun, she pried his fingers off her and asked, "If you're not here to learn from her, what do you want then?"

His face quickly returning to its normal coloring, Kuwabara crossed his arms while muttering something under his breath. Seeing the one girl he respected enough to ever willingly fight as though she were a boy, he answered reluctantly, "It would seem my power to see ghosts and apparitions has gone up greatly in the past few weeks. It's getting to the point where I'm having a tough time concentrating on my fighting."

Keiko nodded understandingly. She knew full well just how aware he was since he was one of the very few could sense her when she was nearby as a ghost. It was for this skill that she had grown to respect him considerably since. But as much as she respected him, she was eternally grateful to the powers above that he was _not_ the one to donate a piece of his life energy to revive her. That honor belonged to her mother, which was ironic in a way.

"Then I heard that Genkai-sama could fix up the symptoms somehow," Kuwabara continued. "But look at this line!"

It was actually hurting Keiko very much from the amount of effort it was taking her to restrain her laughter. Kuwabara wanted Genkai to lessen or disable his reiki awareness? While she could understand, she wasn't sure if that was possible. But the idea of him wanting to weaken himself by removing such a special gift was truly hilarious to her, especially since he continuously was trying to beat her.

Kuwabara quickly noticed her humor despite her attempts to conceal it. He quickly grabbed her shirt again and started roughly shaking her as he yelled, "It's not funny! So don't laugh at me!!"

A sudden gong sounded from somewhere within the temper, drawing a fast silence from the crowd of ambitious perspectives. Whispers quickly started circulating but they didn't get very far. The large, heavy-looking at the front of the temple began to open, revealing a black interior.

"My, my, quite a crowd," a somewhat raspy voice spoke softly from inside.

Despite the low tones used, it carried over the crowd like a cold breeze. Finally, a body was revealed to identify the owner of the voice. It was an old woman that was so short she probably didn't stand much higher than Keiko's chest.

"That's Genkai?"

"I guess so."

Other such rumors were traveling through the crowd as they laid eyes on the old lady. Neither Keiko nor Kuwabara said anything, but they did overhear a pair discussing how difficult the selection exams would be due to how many people had shown up. One of the men, a big muscle man with facial scars and an ugly, unshaven face, had even tried to indirectly intimidate her into leaving.

She just ignored the loser.

Clearing her throat very loudly, Genkai required everyone's attentions before she began speaking. "The first of your screenings shall be…the drawing of lots."

A good portion of the crowd suddenly lost their ability to stand. Lots? Their first test was to win a lottery?! Keiko couldn't help but smile. She was already starting to like the old lady's craftiness.

In a surprisingly short amount of time for such a large crowd, every one of Genkai's perspective new protégés acquired one of the tiny slips of paper. There was a lot of quiet praying and mumbling drifting across the crowd as the men begged whatever deity they believed in for luck. Others, like Keiko, were examining the small envelope that contained the key to their fates.

Even without her somewhat limited reiki awareness, Keiko could tell there was something different about the envelope she held. There was a very faint sensation of warmth flowing through it from her fingertips. Was there some kind of special trick behind these seemingly harmless lots?

"Very good, everyone," Genkai said. "Now go ahead and open your lot. If the paper inside is red, then congratulations. You've passed the first of today's screenings."

If Keiko had gotten anything other than a red, she most definitely would've felt insulted. But she wasn't disappointed; it was red.

"Well, lucky me, I won," she said, simultaneously with Kuwabara.

Glancing down at the other's hand, they both spotted the red slip of paper they held. "You got one too?"

"Didn't mean to!" Kuwabara admitted, almost defensively.

"Now would those of you who have won please come with me," Genkai yelled out over the din of the crowd. "And those who've lost, please get lost!"

Keiko absentmindedly stuck her paper into her pocket for later examination. She was quite curious about it and its properties. She just happened to look up in time to see a pair of overly large men, clearly brawlers, attempting to attack Genkai for some reason.

In an instant, Keiko sensed a massive amount of reiki erupting from the woman. The next instant, Genkai let out a yell and the two men were blown all the way to the far side of the temple, crashing into a stonewall. For a moment, every single person in the clearing could just stare in surprise at what the wrinkled, seemingly weak, old lady had just down.

It was with fresh enthusiasm that Keiko joined the crowd that was allowed to follow her. As she walked, she discreetly slid her hand down to the demon-sensing compass that Botan had given her. Practically as soon as she tapped it, it went haywire and exploded, momentarily drawing Kuwabara's attention.

_I guess Rando __**is**__ here_, she realized. _The strength of his concealed youki was too great for the compass to handle. How can I fight something like that?_

Preoccupied with her thoughts, Keiko almost didn't realize that the group had reached their destination until she bumped into the man in front of her. But the man didn't even notice her since he was too busy taking in the sight that lay before them.

The large room they stood in was filled with video games, stacked side by side and in neat rows all the way to the back of the room. There were the classic martial arts games, pinball-machines, punching games, janken, karaoke, and even racing games.

"This is not a normal temple," she muttered to Kuwabara who was mirroring her expression perfectly.

"Maybe she just likes video games," he replied uncertainly.

"I hope you all brought your quarters," Genkai called from the small lift she was standing on over the center of the room. "It's time for your second test to begin."

"Sensei," a quiet, timid voice sounded from a small monk in the front. "May I ask what playing video games have to do with learning great power?"

"Absolutely nothing," she answered, smiling at the question she had no doubt been expecting. Pointing to the row of punching games, she said, "The Punching Game measures your reiki's strength." Shifting to janken tables, she continued, "Janken measures your reiki awareness." And finally she gestured toward the karaoke platforms. "And the karaoke tests your reiki's ability to adapt and grow stronger…If you can not pass eighty percent on two of the three games, then you fail."

By this time, the group had already started to disperse to the various test-games. Keiko watched with amusement as one of the first men, a big muscular brute who sounded as dumb as he looked, smacked the glove of the punching game as hard as he could after bragging he'd already won it.

_18 percent_ was his score. Not one person who had been watching him boast could contain their laughter at his expense. How the hell did he even pass the _first_ test?

A loud, annoying, and extremely familiar yell drew Keiko's attention to the machine on her immediate right. Kuwabara slammed his fist into the glove with all his strength. A moment later, a bell rang as the score came up, drawing Genkai's attention.

_145 percent_.

Strutting back over to Keiko, Kuwabara's grin was large he proclaimed, "One hundred and forty-five! What do you think _that_, Yukimura?!"

Letting out a loud snort of annoyance, Keiko stepped past him. "Please, the machine's probably just broken. Here, let me check it out for you." Focusing her reiki into her fist, she punched the glove with all the power she could.

_162 percent_.

Standing back up straight, she honestly tried not to smile too broadly as she noticed Kuwabara's shocked and angry expression. "Nope, I guess it works just fine."

Genkai, who had been watching the duo the entire time, couldn't suppress her surprise. It was quite rare to find a spiritually-powerful female who could outdo an equally spiritually-powerful male. That girl was much like _herself_ at that age, no doubt possessing the potential to become a truly formidable fighter some day.

But that boy who was with her was also quite powerful in his own regard. That was why she continued watching the pair as the boy challenged the girl to a game of janken. It was then that his special ability became known, extremely heightened reiki awareness that greatly outmatched the girl's by a fair margin.

The red-haired boy's reiki awareness so great that he landed fifteen out fifteen on the janken game, but the girl only managed to get ten of the fifteen. It was then that Genkai realized, with his temper, that red-haired boy was only a few short steps away from learning how to utilize his reiki into a weapon. She idly wondered what form it would take when it finally happened.

The sound of the high score bell sounding off again distracted her. It was a large man who clearly had the looks of a warrior about him. He had used the very same machine as the girl and the boy. And his score was 175 percent!

Glancing over to the karaoke, she spotted one of the men as he was receiving his score, 100 percent.

_I've got some __**pretty **__**good**__ candidates_, she realized with a small smile. And somewhere among that rabble stood a person who _might_ eventually be able to receive her greatest treasure as well.

She was growing increasingly certain of that as time went on.

* * *

**8:54am**

It had taken the better part of an hour for her to narrow the selection of candidates down to twenty by using those games. Now she and the surviving group stood behind her temple in front of the large forest. Many years ago she placed wards around the entire forest that were specially designed sutra meant to could prevent the more deadly of the youkai living in the forest from leaving.

Assaulting the awareness of members of the group that had slight greater awareness than the others was a mass of killing desire and dread that was seeping out of the forest. It was a thick, all-consuming fog saturated in primal bloodlust. The weaker members of the narrowed group were all close to panicking at having to be so close to such a dangerous…creature that the forest was.

Keiko almost grinned when as she watched four or five of the men turn and run upon hearing what was expected of them. If she hadn't been interested in learning Genkai's power and had a case to solve, she probably wouldn't have minded joining the cowards.

With that in mind, Keiko once again tried to determine if Rando was some where among those still remaining in the crowd. But it was very hard to tell without her youkai compass, her reiki awareness just wasn't good enough. Plus, she was willing to bet that Rando was hiding his energy so that he would seem more human.

"There is some truth to what this woman says," a deep voice said from behind, drawing her out of her thoughts. "Only those who have had _proper_ training should dare enter the forest. It is no place for a _little girl_ for instance."

Turning, Keiko recognized the man's face quickly. It was the same one who had tried to dissuade her from participating in the first test. The first time he'd done that, she ignored him. But now, he was really starting to get own her nerves.

Marching right up to him, she glared at him angrily. "You know, if I were _you_, I'd be careful in that forest. You never know if what could happen in there, like getting _shot_ in the _back_…Or are you just _scared_ of being beaten by a _girl?!_"

Before the man could make a reply, Kuwabara grabbed Keiko's shoulder and pulled her aside muttering, "Knock it off, Yukimura. That idiot's not even worth your time. Besides, we should concentrate more on getting through this test."

Yanking his hand from her shoulder, she whirled on him and snapped, "The same goes for _you_, Kuwabara."

Of course, having spent the last three years fighting and getting beaten up by Keiko had given Kuwabara a pretty good understanding of how the girl acted. And what she said sounded more a friendly warning than the extremely irritated promise for the other man.

"Best of luck," Genkai called out, regaining everyone's attention to the task at hand. "I hope you don't die. Ready…set…GO!!"

**9:00am**

* * *

**11:00am**

"Time's up," Genkai said, closing her antique pocket watch and putting it away. "Only you seven have passed."

Of the seven, only one made an objection. Genkai, having already seen his friendship and rivalry with that girl, was not surprised that the red-haired teenager was the one to speak up.

"But there should be one more coming," he said, looking somewhat distressed.

"Gomen," Genkai said before adding firmly. "I never make exceptions."

"Wait for me!" a voice called from the bottom of the hill they stood upon. All eyes turned to spot the girl only girl of the group running up the hill with a surprising amount of speed. Skidding to a halt and panting slightly, the girl muttered darkly to herself. "I knew I…shouldn't have…gone straight through."

"What?" Genkai asked, somewhat surprised. "Listen, girl, surely you didn't go straight through the Dark Forest. You'd have faced a lethal man-bat."

Looking down at Genkai as she straightened herself, she said, "You mean Baldock? Yeah, he decided to drop by for a visit. Seemed to think I would make a good meal. Don't worry, though, I taught him to respect women."

As Keiko grinned cheekily at Genkai, the older woman felt her admiration for her go up yet another peg. For her to be able to Baldock and emerge with only a few scratches could only mean that she was indeed a formidable fighter already. Based on her attitude, she was very confident in her skills and not scared to prove them either. It would be very interesting to train a girl like her.

But there was still a final test left.

"What are you smiling about, Yukimura?" Kuwabara demanded, glaring at Keiko. "You have no reason to laugh; you went over the time limit!"

"What?!" Keiko demanded, now looking very worried. "Is that true?"

"Yes, it would appear so," Genkai said easily. "But I believe I can make an exception this one time though."

Keiko's appreciative smile was like the sun coming out.

* * *

**(Author's Note)** Before any of you say anything, I know I changed Kuwabara's stats somewhat. And my reasons are simple. It is stated and shown throughout the series that Keiko's wrath was a powerful weapon. After taking so many beatings from her like that, it _should_ make Kuwabara at least a _bit_ tougher than he was in canon, in my opinion.

She could even hurt Yusuke after he had been able to beat Toguro, almost knocking him unconscious (granted, he was severely weakened at the time). That is why I've put Keiko's stats as they are, trying to make her a bit better-rounded of the other contenders.

Keiko's preliminary strength stats:  
162 percent—reiki strength  
10 to 5 (66 percent)—reiki awareness  
98 percent—reiki growth potential

Kuwabara's preliminary strength stats:  
145 percent—reiki strength  
15 to 0 (100 percent)—reiki awareness  
53 percent—reiki potential


	6. Hidden Powers Revealed!

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 6: Hidden Powers Revealed!_

**Ningenkai  
Friday, 11:50am**

The walk back to Genkai's temple was surprisingly short despite the route they took. With her leading the way, the group once again navigated the Dark Forest, taking detours and random turns that none of them would've even considered. In end though, they reached her home in just under half the time it had taken even Kuwabara to make it through the forest.

At the entrance of the temple itself, Genkai turned around and faced the group for the first time since allowing Keiko to continue. Her old, wrinkled face was narrowed in stern expression as she snapped out, "From here on, you can _forget_ about sympathy. The final test shall be a tournament between the eight of you."

Before anyone could speak, she turned back and lightly pushed open a large set of doors that were clearly far heavier than she made them seem. Walking into the temple, they came to an instant realization as the doors slammed shut behind.

It was _pitch black _inside.

"Hey, what's wrong with the lights?!" Kuwabara asked, sounding a little disturbed.

"What's the matter, Kuwabara?" Keiko's voice spoke up with a clear hint of mischievousness. "Scared of the dark?"

"NO!"

It was at that time a match was struck. The fire was quickly transferred to a lantern hanging on the closest pillars. Then it was shifted to a cigarette which Genkai inhaled deeply from before blowing into the faces of the two teenagers.

"That's enough flirting, children," Genkai snapped, trying to sound indifferent. But it was clear that she found the pair somewhat amusing, based on the way one corner of her lips twitched upward for a moment. "Now, before we continue, everyone please introduce yourself."

Keiko turned a calculating glance to each of the men as they announced themselves.

A man with an eye patch over his left eye and dressed as a traditional swordsman stepped forward. In the faint light of the lantern, the hilt of a bokken was visible. Based on his stance and the clear tone to the muscles that were visible, as well as his eye patch, Keiko could tell he was real and serious fighter who'd seen a lot of battles.

"Name's Musashi," he said in a deep, growling voice. "I am swordsman who hunts down evil beings and destroys them."

Next was a man who was clearly of a European ancestry, dressed in a simple long-sleeved shirt and pants. Even though they were hidden, Keiko was able to spot a pair of knives in his belt. Despite the glasses he wore, his eyes held the gaze of a killer. "My name is Kuroda. Contract killer."

A bald man with a large, black swastika tattooed to his forehead spoke up. He wore a dark red robe and pants over what seemed to be light body armor. "Kazemaru of the Ninjas…I've been trained in the ninjitsu art of stealth."

The man who had continuously tried to talk down to Keiko spoke up next. "I am Kibano. I have mastered many different styles of martial arts and I live to test my own limits."

What looked to be a young monk nodded politely towards Genkai with a confident gleam in his eyes. "I am Shorin, a psychic in training. I have traveled the world in search of a perfect master."

The shortest and most rotund man of the group was smiled kindly. "Chinpoh the Wanderer, nice to meet you all."

"Kuwabara Kazuma, the worst punk of Sarayashiki Junior High," Kuwabara grunted out in a voice he thought sounded tough.

"Yukimura Keiko, resident ass-kicker of Sarayashiki Junior High," Keiko said, smiling slightly.

From somewhere high above them, the minute amount of reiki that had been holding them suspended in the air disappeared. With the loss of the reiki, the eight arrow with a slip of paper attached to them dropped to the floor right in the midst of the collected group.

"Now everyone pick up the arrow that they think is pretty," Genkai said, sounding quite bored. "that'll decide the order."

In no time it was determined who would fight who. Much to Keiko's delight, she was paired with the muscle-bound bastard who called himself Kibano. _Finally_ she could cut loose and give him a piece of her mind and a taste of her fists!

However it was the ninja and assassin who had to fight first. At first Keiko wasn't overly interested in the fight, even though she could just barely see what was going on. They were so far inside the darkness that even with her reiki awareness, she could barely make out anything other than their silhouettes. Kuwabara, however, seemed perfectly able to see what was happening. But what really got her nervous was when the Kazemaru used the Reigun to kill the assassin!

_No, that can't be the Reigun_, she realized after a moment. _He…used his entire palm to fire it from. Plus it was __**much**__ stronger than my Reigun…I better not fight him with my own Reigun, if he can still move around that easily must mean he's a lot more powerful than I am with reiki._

If Keiko hadn't been so deep in thought, she might've sensed the approach of someone behind her. But as it was, she didn't.

"Bingo! Bingo!" a cheerful, feminine voice whispered into Keiko's ear after momentarily reading her thoughts. "You win the prize, Keiko-chan!"

Now normally whenever Keiko is caught by surprise, she responds in a very violent manner. The last guy who had managed to sneak up on her at school had to spend the rest of the day in the school infirmary after she knocked him out with a single punch. The reflex for punching first had been permanently ingrained into her personality after all her fights in the streets. It was an automatic defense mechanism that she could no more prevent than breathing.

Having known of this particular personality quirk after reading her file, it had been quite easy for Botan to dodge by dropping into a kneeling position as her friend's fist sailed harmlessly over her head.

"Gah!" Keiko gasped upon realizing just who she had almost decked. "_Botan! _Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Keiko's cry and sudden movement had quickly earned her and the shinigami the collected gazes of the others. Genkai, who had instantly sensed the approach of the young woman, studied her carefully.

_There is something different about that girl…ah!_ Now she remembered the feel of this particular kind of reiki. _So she's a shinigami_, she realized. _And since she's talking with Keiko that must mean she, too, works for Koenma…I didn't realize I was attracting celebrities_.

"Oi," Kuwabara spoke up, staring slightly at Botan's beauty and her exotic blue hair. "Who are you? Keiko-san, do you know her?"

Turning to Kuwabara, Botan put on a polite and exceedingly cute smile. "Konnichiwa, Kuwabara-kun. It's so nice being able to meet for the first time."

By this time, the others had turned away after losing interest in the new girl. It was perfectly obvious that she wasn't a fighter. Even if she was, she was far too late to participate in the tournament. Musashi started walking forward in preparation of his coming fight with the distracted teenager.

After another moment of staring at the exotic shinigami, Kuwabara's eyes suddenly seemed to take on a twinkling gleam. Groaning to herself, Keiko shook her head in annoyance. She'd seen _that_ particular look _far_ too often and it always meant one thing--

"Beautiful lady, will you be my wife?" Kuwabara asked as he gently took hold of Botan's hands.

--a marriage proposal.

But before Botan could answer, if she even _had_ an answer, Keiko latched onto Kuwabara's ear maneuvered him none-too-gently towards his opponent. "Let go, Keiko-san! That hurts!"

Managing to free himself, Kuwabara threw her an ugly glare as his face flushed with embarrassment at how she had easily manhandled him.

"Are you happy with disqualification?" Genkai snapped before the two could get into an argument. "If so, stay where you are."

Instantly remembering what was going on, Kuwabara turned a determined gaze upon Musashi as he walked off into the darkness to meet his opponent.

"Don't die, Kuwabara," Keiko called after him. "I would _really_ hate to lose my favorite punching bag!"

"Don't worry, Keiko-_chan_," Kuwabara said with a teasing tone. "I'm not going anywhere until I beat _you_."

What followed might have seemed like a one-sided fight to anyone else. Only Keiko was not worried for Kuwabara's life…at first. She easily observed that all the hits he took from Musashi hardly fazed him. If it weren't for the fact that the swordsman could turn himself invisible in the darkness, Keiko was sure that Kuwabara could've ended the fight in less than five minutes.

But then Musashi drew his bokken. Whereas before he drew his weapon of choice, his reiki was only several octaves higher than the average human. But now, somehow, it was increasing. Keiko could sense the amount of his reiki rapidly growing and by a substantial degree. How was that?

Fortunately for her state of mind, Musashi seemed to be very proud of his weapon and started boasting about it. That it had been carved by a ancient sacred tree and cleansed in sacred stream, the perfect conduit for spirit energy. Apparently, due to its unique properties, it could absorb as well as somehow channel Musashi's reiki, making both the bokken and himself many times stronger and faster temporarily. Although when he wielded the bokken, it also took away his initial advantage of invisibility…not that it mattered apparently.

Even Keiko, who prided herself greatly on her far faster than normal agility, had a tough time keeping up with each of the strikes that hit the red-head teen. She lost count somewhere around sixty-two or sixty-five of the one hundred strikes.

Yet, predictably, Kuwabara was still somehow able to climb back onto his feet. His determination to win the fight, advance to the finals where he would probably face Keiko, and maybe even become Genkai-sama's apprentice was far more than enough to raise his dwindling reiki and bring out his greatest strength: endurance.

But determination and endurance alone wouldn't win him the fight. Surprisingly it was the six-inch section of Musashi's bokken that had broken off during his pummeling that proved to be Kuwabara's key to victory. It enabled him to finally and fully utilize his reiki into a weapon, his reiken's first appearance. With one slash, the match was over and Kuwabara had won.

As the big teenager staggered back towards the group, feeling surprisingly exhausted after such a short fight. He couldn't entirely understand it at first, he'd had worse beatings from Keiko and other punks after school and not felt nearly this tired. Hurt? Yes, but not tired.

_Must've been that weird sword I'd used_, he guessed finally as he stopped in front of the group.

"Winner: Kuwabara," Genkai stated, making his victory 'official.'

"You had better not lose, Yukimura-san," Kuwabara said quietly, trying to make it seem that he wasn't as exhausted as he really was.

"Don't insult me, Kuwabara," Keiko said, an almost feral gleam in her eyes. "I've been getting very bored with all this waiting around."

"Well, you're going to have to wait a bit more, girl," Genkai said from the side, redirecting everyone's attention. "The next match is Shorin versus Chinpoh." Even as she spoke, the aforementioned fighters had begun walking away to start their fight.

Due in part that they had walked much farther into the darkness than was strictly necessary, no one was able to watch the fight. Not that there was much of a fight to watch: it lasted approximately ten seconds before there came a loud squelching sound followed by two objects landing on the ground. As the monk Shorin came walking back towards them, there was a hint of a vicious grin on his face and flecks of blood along his fingertips and sleeves.

Keiko was instantly on edge when she spotted the blood. It was sadly obvious what had happened in the darkness, murder via decapitation. And judging from the monk's pleased expression, he had clearly enjoyed himself while doing it. While Genkai had stated that she didn't care if they killed one another, Keiko couldn't help but question.

Why should a monk, who traditionally refused to harm others, kill a fellow participant and be _pleased _about it? There was only one answer that she could draw from that question. 'Shorin' was Rando!

The only thing that prevented her from charging the demon-in-disguise was the fact that it was her turn to fight now. _Besides_, her rational side spoke up, _I shouldn't make assumptions just yet. If Shorin is indeed Rando, he'll have to expose himself eventually._

"Keiko," Botan said quietly as she watched Shorin shuffle over to the side to rest. "Do you think that's--"

"Yes," she whispered back. "but I'll worry about it later."

"What's the matter, girl?" Kibano asked when he noticed that his opponent hadn't moved yet. "Not scared, are you, youjo?"

Snapping her attention back to her hated enemy, she smirked, "Of you? Hardly, you feather-weight."

Walking forward, Keiko watched him carefully as they left the small circle of light that the candles provided. Just like usual, the big guy faded from her sight. Yet as she channeled a sliver amount of her reiki into her eyes, the man came back into view. _I love reiki_, she thought as she smiled appreciatively.

Taking up her position, she watched curiously as Kibano began digging into his robes for something. A weapon? Nope, a helmet of some kind which he promptly placed over his head.

"What the hell is that piece of tin for?" Keiko demanded. Why couldn't any of her fights ever be fair? Excluding Kuwabara, everyone always tried to use weapons or armor of some kind or attack her when she was feeling particularly unwell. Was it too much to ask for a nice, clean fistfight against a fellow fighter every once in a while?!

"This 'piece of tin' is a special little device I've created to enhance my reiki awareness," Kibano answered, grinning widely. "With this, I can see you perfectly in the dark…especially because you have a rather usual aura, it keeps fluctuating…like a lighthouse out at sea."

"Good," she growled, keeping her annoyance out of her voice. "It would've been boring if you couldn't fight back properly."

Kibano sneered. "I like the attitude, youjo, but you're going to need a lot more than words to beat me!"

"Really?" she asked, sneering narrowly. "Bring it on!"

And just like that, they attacked.

Kibano dashed forward at a rather fast pace, swinging his loaded fist towards Keiko. Dodging it nimbly, she twirled around his side and brought her knee up into his torso at the same time. Clearly expecting such an attack, Kibano already had his other arm up and her knee was blocked. Swinging around and throwing his own kick, Kibano watched in slight surprise as the little girl suddenly seemed to disappear and reappear above his extended leg before his eyes.

Grabbing a handful of his thick gi, Keiko held herself securely in place as she proceeded to pummel his head with powerful punches. Finishing off her combo with a forceful kick to his chest, she bounced off his chest and landed several meters away safely.

A quiet chuckle escaped the man at about the same time that Keiko noticed a numbing pain lacing through the fist that had punched him. That damn helmet was made of some kind of metal, and it _hurt!_ _This isn't good_, she realized.

"My turn," was all Kibano said before renewing his attack.

Throwing a punch as he neared her again, Keiko was momentarily caught by surprise when his other hand lunged out and grabbed her arm. Several strong blows later sent her careening across the floor with several ribs cracked and others nearly being broken from the abuse she'd just endured.

"My, my," Kibano spoke up from the darkness as he watched her slowly climbing to her feet again. "You are indeed quite tough for a bitch. I'm going to very much enjoy teaching you your place in society."

"And what...place is...that?" she gasped out, fighting to control her impulse to vomit all over the floor.

"Youjo like yourself should be at home learning to be nice, little housewives," was the answer from a sneering voice. "If they don't, they'll grow up to become little more than whores who delight in thievery and murder."

Anger began swelling up in Keiko at hearing that. Kibano didn't know it, but he was pushing all the right buttons in her that would eventually lead to one conclusion. His fall.

"I'm..._not _a..._whore_, bastard!" she growled out as best she could, her breathing rapidly coming back under control.

"Of course you're not," the man agreed readily. "_Not yet_. But like I said, it's my job to teach you that."

Back with the remaining contestants, Kuwabara felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin standing up. If he wasn't mistaken, the look he was seeing on Keiko-chan's face was one that he was _very _relieved wasn't directed towards him. He'd seen that look several times before. He still had nightmares of the one time in which _that _look had been sent his way!

"I guess that's enough talking though," Kibano said, grinning widely as he began concentrating.

He could feel the dormant energy around them in the temple and started absorbing it. Channeling it into his right arm the extra energy took up residence in the only part of the human body could handle the strain, the muscles. The foreign energy that flowed into his arm caused his muscles to swell well past their previous limits. And using his own reiki as a container of sorts, he was able to momentarily control the energy as it tried to escape.

Lunging forward, Kibano brought his enhanced arm up and leapt into the air. Dodging as best she could with her still tender injuries, Keiko bounced to the side as the pumped-up man descended for her, fist first. However, Kibano had clearly anticipated such a move. Rather than land a punch to the floor, he opened his fist and caught himself.

Using the same arm, he tossed himself to the side, straight at the unprepared girl, and rammed his back heavily with Keiko's chest, knocking the wind from her lungs. As she desperately tried to recover her breath, the man twirled around on the ground until he was on his feet again. With his arm still inflated, he finally landed a punch and it threw her a surprising distance away.

From where she was watching the fight, Genkai almost couldn't suppress the smirk that wanted to break out. Only a person who was either as experienced she was or was exceptionally aware of the spirit could sense what was happening to the girl's reiki. The fact that Keiko could even be capable of such a thing and at such a relatively young age was rather impressive for an _untrained_ reiki martial artist.

"How do you like my Daiwan-kobakusho, Yukimura Keiko, right?" Kibano asked, the sneer obvious in his voice. "Quite impressive, isn't it?"

"Shut…up…bastard!" Keiko growled as she forced herself back to her feet again. That punch hurt almost as much as Gouki's had. But it wasn't something that she couldn't handle. Spitting out some blood that had pooled in her mouth, she glared at her opponent with fast rising anger. "This fight is…far from over…Next time I hit you, I'm going to smash…that little mask of yours and then I'm…going to show you why _I'm_ going to be Genkai's apprentice!"

"_Ooh!_ That's scary," the man mocked, pitching his voice slightly to accent the jab. "Ha! Don't you think it's a bad time to bluff, youjo? You've lost a lot of power during this fight. I know because it's _much_ harder to see you in my mask."

"A bluff huh?" Keiko asked as she began chuckle quietly. "Then why are you way over there and not over here proving me wrong?"

"Fine then!" the man growled, feeling somehow irked at the girl's constant show of bravo. As he once again began summoning in the environmental energies, he yelled out, "I'll end this in _one blow_, brat!"

"_Keiko-chan!_" Botan yelled, clearly disturbed by what she was hearing and seeing. "Why are you _encouraging_ him when you can barely stand up?!"

"Kibano is wrong about her," Genkai said quietly, drawing all the others' attention. "Even with that mask, Kibano's senses are still limited to what he expects to see. In a normal human, yes, reiki would've been lost from such powerful attacks. But this girl seems to possess a very unique ability with her reiki. She is able to transfer the energy that is normally reserved for protecting a person's body into attacks. Meaning that because he insisted on insulting her, Keiko's reiki is now almost fully concentrated towards her attack. And Kibano is only seeing her defensive reiki dwindle away."

"Where did she learn to do that?" Kazemaru asked, clearly impressed by the petite girl that he had initially marked as an easy win. "That type of technique is something I've only heard of masters learning."

"How she learned it is not important," Genkai said neutrally. "The fact of the matter is that due to her being capable of the Hangeki Zougen, Keiko stands a very good chance of winning."

"_Let's see if you can stand a __**second **__Daiwan-kobakusho!_" Kibano's shout drew their attentions back to the fight at hand.

Racing at Keiko with his powered-up arm cocked back and ready, the man prepared for what he thought would be the final blow. As he watched from behind his mask, the girl held up her hand with her index finger extended. Through the mask he could see her reiki start quivering very badly, the only time he had ever seen a person's reiki do that was when they were trembling with fear. He was gonna win this for sure!

Jumping into the air again, he was about to throw his arm forward to crush her ribcage when he saw something out of place. She was smiling!

Pointing her finger that the man who was now suspended in the air and unable to dodge, Keiko unleashed the bullet at near pointblank range. "Reigun!!"

The reiki smashed into Kibano's face with all the strength of a sledge hammer, blasting his helmet to pieces and throwing his head back almost to the point of snapping his neck. The force behind the bullet pushed him back several meters through the air before it finally lost its power and vanished, allowing him to collapse to the ground in a dead faint.

Staggering slightly at the sudden lost of power, Keiko wheezed for breath for a moment. _I don't think I'm __**ever **__going to get use to this part_, she thought bitterly before walking slowly back to the group.

* * *

**(Author's Note) **Surprise! I finally got inspired enough to write the next chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this one. Tell me, what do you guys think about Keiko's new technique: Hangeki Zougen? I created it for two reasons.

One: to help put some of you readers at ease on how Keiko is slightly stronger than Yusuke-canon at this point.  
Two: there are numerous occasions through the series in which a character is able to temporarily strengthen their attack power and I decided to find a way to explain how they could do that.

Bokken—wooden sword, similar to a katana  
Daiwan-kobakusho—Great Arm Hard Explosive Smash  
Hangeki—counterattack, counteroffensive, counterblow  
Reiken—Spirit Sword  
Youjo--little girl  
Zougen—increase and decrease, fluctuation

**Hangeki Zougen**—_Fluctuating Counterattack_/A very rare and powerful ability that is said to be so difficult to properly control that even the greatest of reiki masters have a hard time using it. Every living creature, whether it's an animal, human, or demon, have two different kinds of spiritual energy inside them: defense and offense. Hangeki Zougen is the ability to transfer varying portions of one to strengthen the other. The biggest side-effect for using this ability is that, depending on the amount used, it can leave the user completely exhausted afterwards.

Generally, most creatures have an equal amount of both. But some have greater amounts of one kind than the other (like Kuwabara who is able to sustain incredible blows but isn't too overly powerful himself)

_Example_:  
_Keiko's Reiki during the fight against Kibano_  
Offense reiki--162, 50 used  
Defense reiki--162, 125 used  
Amount of reiki used to defeat Kibano--175

Remaining reiki strength  
Offense reiki--112+  
Defense reiki--37+


	7. Brutal Fights

**This chapter dedication goes out to OukamiYoukai. Thanks for the fan art! If anyone wants to see, there's a link on my homepage to it. I quite recommend you see it, it is rather funny!**

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 7: Brutal Fights_

**Ningenkai  
12:32pm**

It was a long a walk for the Semifinalists. Once Genkai had announced that they'd be moving locations, they had promptly left the darkened temple. As she was hiking along with the others around the Dark Forest and past the tree that had been the goal of the third test.

The farther they walked up the steep hill past the tree, the more aware of a very strange and eerie energy. The only thing that she could compare to what she was feeling now was what she had felt as she was approaching Genkai's temple before the test. Like ripples on a pond, the closer the group walked towards the summit of the bluff, the stronger and more terrifying the reiki waves became.

The top of the bluff was covered with a murky swamp. It was every bit as eerie and dangerous as the energy that was saturating it like the dense and unnatural fog that hung over it. Keiko tried in vain to prevent the shivers of fear and unease that were racing through her body like an electric current. Of course, her reaction to the marshlands was barely comparable to Kuwabara's. With his extraordinary reiki awareness, coupled with the recent discovery of how to control that reiki, he was seeing things would make any other teenager with a weaker stomach and constitution vomit.

"I'm seeing things here I never wanted to see!" Kuwabara cried out as he recoiled away from the place. He tried unsuccessfully to cover his ears so he wouldn't have to hear the screams of death and murder. "Oh please, please someone take me home!"

Unaffected by the energies, Genkai decided to explain just why the swamp was so terrifying. "This is the site of an ancient battlefield. An entire army was overcome by madness. Thousands of soldiers attacked their own men…Restless souls fill this place."

Turning to face her few remaining prospective students, she continued, "In this place, reiki begins to overtake the body at an unnatural pace. If any living soul remains here for too long, they will eventually be overcome and become yet another soul that roams this place…Thus it is the best place on Earth to use reiki and so the perfect place for your fight."

It was about that time that the others noticed that the energies of the swamp were indeed seeping into their bodies, slowly restoring their lost powers. Keiko, who was arguably the most exhausted of the remaining fighters, experimentally lifted her hand in an attempt to form a second Reigun. She had the power, but not enough. A little more time would be needed for that.

"Well then," Genkai said after she'd given them enough time to realize that their powers were returning. "Let's get the Semifinals started; Keiko versus Shorin!"

The two named fighters stepped forward, one watching the other with false serenity while the other just glared. Walking several paces away from the spectators, they took their positions in preparation.

"Be careful, Keiko-chan!" Botan called nervously from the sidelines.

"Don't worry, Botan-chan," Kuwabara said in a surprisingly reassuring voice. "Keiko's got a goal. She's not about to let some half-pint get between her and that goal now."

_I'm pretty sure this guy is Rando_, Keiko thought to herself. _But I can't make any assumptions yet. I'll fight for a little while, try to get a feel for his strength and basic strategies. No need to blow my cover just yet._

"You may begin!" Genkai called out.

Eyes narrowing, Keiko made no immediate move, just watching Shorin carefully. Apparently the little monk was quite content to just stand and wear that seemingly serene smile.

"Before we get started," Keiko said seriously. "Let me ask you one thing, Shorin. Just how experienced are you with using your ki?"

"I have had several masters throughout my life," Shorin said smiling proudly. "I have learned quite a few of their best techniques as well."

Nodding with a smile grin, Keiko let out a cute smile that would've had many boys dazzled by just how utterly beautiful it made her look. Kuwabara and Botan, however, recognized it instantly. Keiko was ready to go all-out, without remorse.

"Good," she said, continuing her smile. "Otherwise, this would not nearly be as interesting of a fight."

And just like that, she seemed to disappear, leaving only a pair of imprints in the marshy ground she'd stood upon. Almost faster than most of the audience could follow, Keiko was in Shorin's face and was pummeling his face, chest, and stomach ruthlessly. Finishing her assault with a powerful heel kick, she sent the small body flying a distance away. With a small splash, it crashed into one of the small puddles that covered the area.

"_Yeah!_" Kuwabara and Botan cheered. "You show him, Keiko-chan! The little guy didn't even know what hit him!" Even Kazemaru and Genkai looked suitably surprised by Keiko's show of speed.

Panting slightly from the effort she'd put into that attack, she stood back up straight and watched the pool where Shorin had disappeared into. _That was so easy, it was __**pathetic**_, she thought bitterly._ I was expecting him to dodge or retaliate. Heck, I wasn't even using my reiki for those hits! __**No way **__can it be over that quickly or easily._

As that thought was passing through her mind, Keiko watched with no real surprise as the monk suddenly shot up and scrambled out of the water. Once safely back onto moderately solid ground, the monk began sputtering and coughing from inhaling some swamp water unintentionally.

_Like I thought_, Keiko thought, smiling bitterly. _**Far **__too easy_.

"You move very fast, Keiko-san," the monk said, smiling disarmingly. "and you possess a very great strength for someone so young."

"If you think trying to make me get arrogant is going to work, you're mistaken," Keiko snapped out, she'd seen _that_ strategy before, even fallen for it a few times when she was still new at fighting. "I'm not some half-wit amateur like Kuwabara."

"I'M STANDING _RIGHT HERE_, YOU KNOW, KEIKO!!" Kuwabara screamed indignantly from the sidelines.

"See what I mean?" she asked, smiling despite the serious situation.

As Kuwabara was trying to decide if it was worth rushing over and strangling the girl to get some much needed respect, Shorin was climbing to his feet. Keiko saw something in his expression that might've unsettled her if she hadn't already known what he probably was. It was a murderous anticipation disguised as an eagerness to resume fighting.

"Well then," Shorin said, a strange grin lighting across his face. "since you're obviously taking this seriously, I think I'll try a few of my favorite techniques out on you…If you don't mind, that is."

"Why do you think I haven't creamed your ass yet?" she demanded, settling back into a ready position.

"Oh really?" the voice that spoke now was no longer that of Shorin's humble tones. It was deeper and rougher. "Then let's see how well you fair against me at full strength."

Keiko barely had a second's warning before the immediate area around her opponent was suddenly blown back by the explosion of youki. It kicked up smoke and moist debris from the immediate blast zone, forcing everyone to shield their eyes as the muddy dirt shot past or struck them. Recovering quickly, Keiko bounced back further to put so buffering space between her and the demon.

Slowly the artificial smoke dissipated and revealed the figure that had caused it. The figure was of the same height as Shorin but the entire structure of the person had been drastically changed. What stood before her now looked like some kind of humanoid walrus with long, scraggily yellow hair.

"Rando, I presume," Keiko asked, raising her reiki in preparation.

"Rando?" the creature asked, smirking. "Please, don't insult me! My name is Seiuchi!"

"Seiuchi?" several voices echoed, two of them uttered in surprise.

"Hey, Botan," Keiko called, not taking her eyes off her newly revealed opponent. "You know anything on this guy?"

"Yes," the blue-haired beauty answered. "He's another smalltime villain, nowhere near as strong as Rando though. He takes pleasure in kidnapping young children and torturing them before eating them."

"Not as strong as Rando, eh?"Seiuchi held up a palm that was gathering a high amount of youki and launched it towards the girl. "_Tell me this isn't strong, __**bitch!**_"

The ray of youki didn't even make it within two meters of the cowering girl due to Genkai suddenly materializing in front of it and deflecting it effortlessly into the sky. As Seiuchi was glaring at Genkai, the old warrioress just sent him back a reproving stare.

"Kuso, Babaa," the demon growled annoyance.

"You dropped your guard," Genkai said, barely restraining her smirk.

"Wha—?!" he was cut off when Keiko's foot suddenly buried itself in his gut, knocking the wind from his lungs. Twirling around, she planted her heel into the side of his neck and sent him flying to the side and back into another pool of swamp water.

Rather than go rushing after him, Keiko held back and waited patiently. After a second, the water began to bubble angrily as high levels of youki flared up. Erupting out of the water, Seiuchi let out a feral roar as he bared his overlarge fangs. _It seems I've made him mad_, Keiko remarked snidely to herself with a grin.

Dancing and dodging with extreme ease around the demon's flailing arms and kicks, Keiko's grin widened slightly with each miss. This was even easier than fighting Kuwabara! It was almost embarrassing for her.

Seeing a gaping opening in his defense, Keiko ducked and slid across the ground on her hands. Spinning to present her back to the monster, she raised one foot and set a powerful mule kick into his groin, using her hands on the moldy ground as an anchor. Kazemaru and Kuwabara both winced in sympathetic pain for the man-turned-demon. For just a second, Seiuchi was unable to form an adequate vocal response to the brutal blow he'd sustained.

Quickly pulling herself free, Keiko scampered away to a safer distance as she waited for an retaliation. But there was none forthcoming as Seiuchi crumbled to the ground, delicately clutching his screaming loins. Seeing another opportunity, Keiko dashed in and landed a strong chop upon the back of his neck, knocking the aquatic demon blissfully unconscious instantly.

"I don't think he's going to wanna wake up anytime soon," Keiko remarked idly as she walked back towards the group with a wide grin of accomplishment.

"Winner: Yukimura Keiko!" Genkai declared unnecessarily.

"I'll go and take Seiuchi to Reikai," Botan stated as she formed her paddle. Hurrying over to the demon, she quickly bound his unconscious form with the standard Reikai bindings.

As the shinigami was doing her job, Kuwabara and Kazemaru walked over to the side of the girl as they match was about to begin. In his hand, Kuwabara still carried the piece of the bokken that had broken off during his first fight. If his hunch was right, he'd probably need his reiken during this fight and he wasn't going to take chances. Not now, when his goal was so close at hand.

Chuckling, Kazemaru spoke up, "I must say, boy, that I can't help but feel relieved that I drew the slot I did. This match will be good warm-up for when I have to go against your girlfriend over there."

"_I'M NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!!_" Keiko screamed as her face lit up partially in embarrassment. _How _could anyone _dare_ make that assumption?!

Kuwabara wisely decided to keep his initial comments to himself. Keiko had just kicked a monsters butt a few minutes ago, it wouldn't be wise to get on her nerves in the near future or until he was at her level again.

Ignoring the girl, Kazemaru continued, "Though I am somewhat curious to see how my spirit firing technique compares to your reiken."

Seeing the two fighters ready, Genkai's hand dropped, "Begin!"

"Let's go, ninja-man!" Kuwabara hollered as he ran towards the older man.

Kazemaru just grinned as he easily deflected the red-head's first punches before retaliating. Unlike Kuwabara, Kazemaru was a very fast fighter. Where he could block the teen's attacks, Kuwabara was lucky to even get his guard up before Kazemaru's fists began knocking him about. After a particularly strong blow, Kuwabara was thrown back and landed roughly on his back, soaking his uniform with mud and algae.

Climbing back to his feet and wiping his bloody lip, Kuwabara glared at the ninja. He'd already known that this wasn't going to be an easy fight, but he'd expected to have gotten at least one punch through! Sure, this guy was fast but nowhere near as fast as Keiko!

As that thought went through his mind, an idea hit Kuwabara. It was risky, but it had worked quite well in his earliest fights against the girl before she'd caught onto his strategy. And this ninja was probably very experienced with fighting, so if the strategy worked, it'd only work _once_. _I gotta make this one time count!_

"Come on, old man," Kuwabara taunted, grinning broadly. "Is that the best punch you can throw? Jeeze, I'd have thought you'd be stronger than that psycho-samurai I fought last time. Those puny punches weren't even half as strong as Keiko's!"

"Oh really?" Kazemaru replied, his grin turning feral. "Then perhaps I'll stop holding back!"

Rushing Kuwabara, Kazemaru was momentarily surprised when the boy seemed to somehow dodge with an unnatural speed. The teen's arm clamped down tightly over the ninja's forearm and held it tightly. Grinning broadly in triumph, Kuwabara unleashed his free fist upon the ninja and he didn't try to hold back either.

Crying out in pain, Kazemaru realized that he'd made a big mistake. Fighting such a strong opponent at close range had been foolhardy. What was worse was that he'd made the assumption that the boy was weaker than he really was due to how poorly he had been able to fight back in the first round. Falling back on dirty tricks, Kazemaru desperately tried to kick Kuwabara in the groin to escape.

He _tried_ to.

After fighting Keiko for so long and having grown reluctantly accustomed to her occasional style of fighting dirty had driven the teenager to develop superb reflexes and defensive moves. He'd managed to spot the ninja's knee incoming and shifted his position _just_ enough that the kneecap impacted with the inside of his thigh rather than its intended target. However, his shifted position was just enough to allow Kazemaru enough of an opportunity to wriggle free.

Jumping back, Kazemaru watched the teenager wearily. He was good, very good for street punk. There was one thing for sure now. He couldn't afford to fight at close range, not with how much those punches of his had hurt. And especially if he decided to pull out his reiken. If the boy's reiki was anything like his own, then the moment he unleashed the energy blade, the teen's strength would increase considerably.

Panting and wiping some stray blood off his split lip, Kazemaru grinned painfully. "Looks like I've have to fight long-distance." He quickly extracted four of his most favorite distance weapons, reiki-seeking explosive shuriken throwing stars. "Let's how you handle these little beauties, boy!" After quickly charging them with his reiki, he quickly threw at the grinning Kuwabara.

"Please, those little toys aren't even worth my time!" Kuwabara yelled, easily dodging each of them. "Come on, let's get back to fighting!"

The ninja made no move to reengage, just continued grinning.

It was a combination of instinct, hearing the approach of danger, and Keiko's shout of warning that had Kuwabara dodge quickly to the side. The four shuriken slashed through the air where he had been. He watched curiously as they seemed to loop around in midair and rush back towards him. That's when he realized what was happening.

"Seekers?" he cried, his face showing his nervousness. Sure, dodging them was easy enough but what if Kazemaru added more of them? The more there were, the harder it would for him to avoid any major injury. "Why you dirty cheater! What's the matter? Scared to fight me like a man?!"

"Talk is cheap," Kazemaru grunted, clearly amused by Kuwabara's accusation. "This is a fight and there are no rules. So deal with it, boy."

Snatching the bokken piece, Kuwabara's reiken ignited as he yelled, "Fine then! Bring them on!"

As the first two came rushing in, Kuwabara grinned. They were going pretty fast but _nothing_ like the batting cages back home. It was with considerable ease that he sliced the two stars in half. Before he could yell out in victory, a pair of explosions sent him flying an instant later.

Skidding across the murky soil, Kuwabara bit back his scream of pain. Sitting up painfully, he spotted the tip of one of the stars sticking out of his right shoulder. As he was pulling the shrapnel out, Kazemaru let out a knowing laugh.

"Did I forget to mention the explosives in each shuriken?" he asked, his grin turning especially feral. "I guess your reiken must've ignited the gunpowder prematurely. They're designed to explode on impact."

"I…really hate you…" the teen growled out.

"Kuwabara!" Keiko yelled out. "Stay focused! There's still two left!"

"Yeah, I know Yukimura!" he yelled before returning his attention to the weapons. _Now, how do I fight against those things? I can't slice them or they'll explode…I guess I just gotta make this next one worth something._

Turning he started running towards Kazemaru with his reiken raised high and a loud yell. If he was going to lose or die, he would be damned if he didn't take the other guy with him!

Quickly seeing Kuwabara's strategy, Kazemaru merely raised his palm and began gathering his reiki. "That's nice plan, kid. But you've forgotten about my reiki attack!"

"Uh-oh!" Kuwabara yelled as he realized he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The shuriken were right behind him and closing fast. Kazemaru's reiki attack was rising quickly in power, nearly ready to be fired! What could he do?!

By some twist of fate, the moment Kazemaru fired his attack was the same instant that Kuwabara's feet slipped. The energy beam passed harmlessly over his collapsed body, impacting with the shuriken and unleashing a trio of loud explosions. The explosions threw up a smokescreen around the immediate area, obscuring Kuwabara for several precious seconds as he climbed back to his feet to resume his charge.

Kazemaru hadn't noticed the slip however. The moment his reiki had been fired, he'd only been able to see the blazing trail of energy. He could only assume that his reiki had impacted with the boy the same time his shuriken did, which was why the explosions were so loud and powerful.

Leaning heavily upon his knees, he let out a long sigh; using that energy attack twice in one day was his current limit. He'd need at least five minutes before he could get his breath back. The fact that he'd been forced to use his ace in both the first and second fights was embarrassing to the ninja. Was he really slipping up in his training that badly? Well at least that punk was finished now…

A loud battle cry erupted from the smoke. Kazemaru only had enough time and strength to look up in surprise and disbelief. "No! That's impossible!"

Kuwabara sent him flying away with one slash of his reiken. The already exhausted ninja promptly fainted after he'd finally come to the complete stop.

"Winner: Kuwabara!" Genkai cried, dropping her hand dramatically to accent the importance of the declaration.

"Alright, Kuwabara!" Keiko cheered, before laughing slightly. "Though I have to admit that I'd have thought you wouldn't have had to rely on dumb luck to win such an easy match."

"Shut up!" he yelled through his panting. But upon yelling that, Kuwabara's world abruptly started spinning. With staggering feet, he collapsed to the ground as his dizzy spell intensified.

"Hm, I guess I should've expected that," Genkai muttered, drawing Keiko's attention.

"What do you mean, Genkai-sama?" she asked before looking back towards Kuwabara with slight concern. "Do you mean why Kuwabara-baka's collapsed."

Chuckling quietly, the elder woman nodded sagely. "Yes, he has only just learned how to control his reiki. And due to the structure of his weapon, it has a rather draining effect upon his body. Due to the fact that his body is unaccustomed to wielding such a weapon, it weakens him very quickly after he's done using it. Only time and _very_ hard training will eventually bypass this."

Walking forward to wear to where the red-haired teenager was only now slowly regaining his stability, Genkai closely examined his body and reiki levels. If she were to voice her thoughts, she'd be very impressed. Kuwabara's reiki levels were indeed still very high, probably thanks to his naturally high awareness. But due to a lifelong time of using only his body to fight, he was rapidly approaching his limits. She guessed that he could probably use his reiken one last time for nearly five minutes before his body finally gave out on him and he collapsed until it'd recovered.

"Is it my…turn to fight…Keiko yet?" he asked weakly as he tried to push himself back up to his feet.

Despite her respect for the boy's drive, Genkai decided to make a decision that she knew he would not want to hear. "Due to the fact that continued use of Kuwabara's reiken has greatly weakened his body and ability to fight, I name Yukimura Keiko as the winner of the Genkai Tournament!"

"What?!" two voices yelled simultaneously.

"You've got…to be kidding me!" Kuwabara yelled as he was finally able to push himself up to his knees.

"No, I am not," Genkai said sharply. "You're body is still not use to using your reiki in such a manner. If you continued to use it, you'll only end up hurting yourself and making Keiko's victory over you that much easier."

"But the whole purpose of my joining this tournament was for the chance to fight her!" Kuwabara yelled, the desperation clear in his voice.

Nodding her head in understanding, Genkai said, "Then perhaps after you've rested for the remainder of the day, you can have your match with her tomorrow. However, my decision still stands regardless what that fight's outcome would be. Keiko's shown herself to be the strongest fighter of all the others. And that was who I had sworn to teach."

Kuwabara was only able to let a low groan when he realized that the renowned psychic had made her choice and wasn't going to be dissuaded. It was with that low groan that he let himself fall back weakly into the muddy swamp as Keiko let out reluctant laughter at her rival's expense.

As the elation and joy of victory settled upon her, a stray thought hit Keiko. If Rando wasn't here trying to get Genkai's powers, where was he?

* * *

**Makai  
Same time**

Walking quietly through the dark forest that he was currently in, the young fighter seemed to the casual observer to be scarcely even paying attention to where he was going. Yet to any experienced fighter who was worth their grain of salt, they'd have seen the way he'd seemingly glance over in any which direction, scanning his surroundings closely for any sign of danger.

If that wasn't enough, the way he was dressed went a long way of showing just what kind of a person he was. With filthy, worn and torn clothing, an equally worn traveler's pack on his back, and the muscles that were clearly visible on his arms due to the sleeveless tan gi he was wearing, it was obvious that he was constant traveler who was quite adept at fighting.

Even with his eyes trained casually ahead of him, he could sense the approach of another being. It was waiting and watching from the shadows. If he'd not been as expertly trained and experienced as he was, the young fighter might have missed the presence.

Spotting a rock outcropping ahead of him, he decided that would be a decent place to spend the night. _I just hope that Akai-teme isn't here for another rematch_, he thought with annoyance. _Who'd have thought that a centuries-old demon like him could hold such a big grudge after one lousy defeat. Sheesh._

As he was breaking out his flint and iron in preparation for starting a small fire, he called out, "I know you're there. So if you wanna have a little fun, make it fast because I'm not in the mood today."

After a moment's hesitation, his follower decided to drop the pretense. Landing lightly on the ground several meters away stood a humanoid with long, shaggy-red hair and blue spider-like designs across his body. "I see you haven't lost your edge since the last time we fought."

"What makes you think I'd do that?" the traveler asked, ignoring his visitor as he set about starting a fire the old-fashioned way. "I'm gonna be the best warrior of all three worlds, why should I slack my training?"

"It still baffles me how I've lost so many times to someone so arrogant," the demon growled, more to himself than anyone else. "One day that arrogance is going to be your demise."

"Yeah, maybe," the traveler said noncommittally as it began feeding the small tongues of flame that had sprouted from the pile he had laid. "But it won't be today. So tell me, Rando, what do you want from me?"

"I was just going to pass along some news that I've come across that you might have an interest in," Rando said, smiling deviously. He knew how much his companion valued information like what he now held. For the knowledge he held, Rando could probably charge any price and he would pay it double.

"And what news is that?"

"It seems that Reikai has appointed a new Reikai Tantei for the Japan sector," Rando began.

"And why should I care what Reikai does?" the traveler asked as he absentmindedly began feeding his growing fire.

"The Reikai Tantei is a girl," Rando said, his sneer growing slightly as he watched his companion start to pay more attention to what he was saying. "and her name is Yukimura Keiko."

He now had young Raizen's _undivided_ attention.

* * *

**(Author's Note)** Due to popular demand, I've decided to add in this little snippet with Yusuke. However don't go getting all excited, this is not his grand reappearance. That is not scheduled until towards the end of the Four Saint Beasts arc.

Akai-teme—Red Bastard  
Kuso—dammit!  
Babaa—old woman; _derogative term: hag_  
Reiken—Spirit Sword  
Seiuchi—walrus

Kazemaru's stats:  
strength—130  
awareness—12 to 3 (80 percent)  
growth potential—100 percent

Keiko's stats:  
strength—122+  
awareness—10 to 5 (66 percent)  
growth potential—98 percent

Kuwabara's stats:  
strength—129+  
awareness—15 to 0 (100 percent)  
growth potential—57 percent

Shorin's stats:  
strength—121  
awareness—10 to 5 (66 percent)  
growth potential—73 percent


	8. The Beasts of Maze Castle

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 8: The Beasts of Maze Castle_

**Ningenkai, six months later  
9:45pm**

"Two chocolate shakes, please," Keiko said, smiling whimsically at the ice-cream vendor. The slight blush suddenly lining the young teenager's face was all she needed to know that her purchase was just given a slight discount out of sheer cuteness.

Seeing the by-play from where he was sitting, Kuwabara was torn between laughing hysterically and reprimanding the newly-returned girl. Sure, he liked shakes as much as the next guy (even if he'd never admit it or so help his reputation), but what Keiko was doing was just wrong. Playing with a man's feelings and desires just so she'd not have to pay as much. It was scandalous!

Of course, the fact that she could still probably beat the snot out of him was also helping to keep him from speaking up.

"So," Keiko said as she thrust his shake towards his face. "what did you want to talk to me about?"

Taking his drink from her, Kuwabara smirked slightly, "Well, I just wanted to know what you learned from the old lady. Hey, maybe you could show me in our next fight!"

Dressed in her favorite outfit of baggy cargo pants and a black sleeveless shirt, Keiko let out a laugh as she took a seat on the other side of the bench. "With what I learned from Genkai-sama, fighting you would be cruel!"

Catching the slight scathing tone in her voice, Kuwabara turned a serious gaze on her as he said, "So, was the training very hard?"

"I may respect Genkai-sama very much," Keiko said, taking a small sip from her shake. "but what she put me through was pure hell." Seeing Kuwabara's searching expression, she decided to elaborate slightly. "I had to use my reiki to float above a metal spike, on just one finger by the way, for twelve hours a day for nearly two months. I had to sleep with snakes for three weeks, meditate on a bonfire for a week, and--"

"Okay! Okay! Forget I asked!" Kuwabara interrupted, looking very disturbed at even that small amount of information. "Just listening to all that gives me the creeps."

"Yeah," she agreed, restraining her smirk. Those last two examples were just figments of her imagination to scare her friend, and it was damn hilarious! " But it was definitely worth it for all the new tricks I learned."

"Ooh! Now that's what I wanna see!" Kuwabara's interest was once again peeked.

"How about later," Keiko said. "I heard there's this new movie out in theaters that I really wanna see."

"Oh sure!" Kuwabara quickly was on his feet but he suddenly faltered when a stray thought hit his mind. Before he could restrain himself, he'd blurted out, "Wait a minute…is this a date, Keiko-san?!"

A moment of silence passed between the two as Keiko's flushed face mirrored Kuwabara's. Then her wide eyes narrowed dangerously. Without a word, she reached out, snatched his shake away, and up-ended it upon his gaudy red-hair. Kuwabara let out a surprised cry as he jumped back and tried futilely to clean the mess out of his hair.

"_NO! _THIS IS _NOT!!_" Keiko yelled, her face still very red. How could he even think that?! Sure, he was her friend and rival. But never had she even considered having a relationship with him that exceeded that! _Never!_

"Gomennasai! Gomennasai!" he yelled as he dashed into the nearest building, heading straight for the men's restroom.

Waltzing lazily over to the building, Keiko leaned against the side of the store. Perhaps she'd be giving her friend a demonstration of her new abilities a few hours sooner than she'd anticipated…

It was as she was absentmindedly sipping her beverage and waiting for him to emerge that she noticed someone was watching her. In her training with Genkai, Keiko had been taught a very useful ability to sense a person's emotions through the feel of their reiki. With people like Kuwabara and Genkai, it was very easy since they had large amounts of the energy. But with the common people on the streets, it was fairly more difficult because they didn't very much reiki at all.

But the sheer amount of bloodlust that a small group of teenagers were emitting was so strong that she'd have noticed it even if she'd not received the training. Discreetly glancing over at their location, she counted five of them. Judging from their uniforms, they too were students of Sarayashiki Junior High, but due to her prolonged absence and her habit of frequently skipping, she didn't recognize any of them.

At that moment, Kuwabara stumbled back out of the building still playing with his wet hair. Grabbing his shoulder, Keiko pulled him with her as she started walking down the street for an adequate alley. There was a fight coming, and she preferred not to have it in the middle of a street. The last time she did, the authorities had been called and boy had her parents been pissed with her.

"Where are we going now?" her companion asked, a hint of fear in his voice. She wasn't going to rearrange his facial features now was she?

"We're being followed," she answered quietly, sensing the group trailing after them. "Besides, you wanted a demonstration of some of my new tricks, didn't you?"

"Heh, lead on then," a small grin of relief crossed his face as he glanced behind them and did a quick estimation of the groups' strength. To be honest, he had been yearning for a good fight recently anyway. This might be the reprieve he was looking for.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Makai, City of Ghosts and Apparitions  
10:22am**

With a burst of energy and a resounding explosion of sound, a pair of bodies appeared in the air several meters above the ground. It was only pure reflex after six brutal months of training that allowed the female of the duo to twist of her in midair enough to land heavily upon the ground. Beside her, Kuwabara lay in a twitching heap of nerves and pain as he tried to get his body re-acquainted with gravity.

"Remind me to bitch-slap Botan when we get back," Keiko grumbled bitterly as she tried to stop her world from spinning. "she could've told us about the 'no-gravity-sick-to-your-stomach' thing."

"Maybe she didn't know." Kuwabara offered weakly he slowly climbed to his feet.

Looking around, the two of them quickly surveyed their surroundings. They stood upon a rocky hilltop. There was only a few vile-looking weeds that were scattered upon the rocky surface. The sky was heavily overcast with dark clouds and it looked like they wanted to open up with a heavy rainstorm at any second. However, the humidity in the air was so thick that Keiko almost felt like she was drinking the air instead of breathing. But that was nothing like the vile feeling that she was experiencing with her reiki senses. It was similar to the feeling she'd gotten on the large swamp in Genkai's tournament, only much worse.

Far ahead of them was the most massive and bizarre looking castle with very large and thick walls that either of them had ever seen before. There was a considerably large city of some sort surrounding the castle walls. All in all, it was a very foreboding and intimidating scene.

"I guess this is the place," she said, some of her unease seeping into her voice.

At the sound of her voice, a soft but wide-spread rumbling sound filled the air. The earth under their feet began to tremble weakly, then a large number of small creatures burst out of the ground. All of them had their bodies completely covered in filthy robes that obscured their faces, yet their gleaming teeth were clearly visible.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't the welcoming committee?" Keiko asked herself, preparing to fire one of her newest techniques.

"Ugly little things, aren't they?" Kuwabara asked, trying to put on a calm front to mirror Keiko's, even though he was quite scared. Even though he now of their existence, even having seen one earlier, being confronted by such a large number of demons was making his very nervous in his abilities.

"It's dinnertime!" the creatures yelled as they charged together. However upon seeing the blinding purple light of flaring up from Keiko's clenched fist, monsters faltered.

"Reikoha!" Keiko cried as she unleashed her second Shotgun for the day. The spray of mini-Reigun bullets showered into the creatures in front of her, either knocking them out, injuring, or killing them depending on where they landed.

Seeing their comrades so easily killed off, the group of attacking monsters shifted their attentions to the 'easier' prey: Kuwabara. Noticing the shift, Kuwabara's Reiken ignited into his hand and with one sweep of the energy blade, he sent the group attacking him flying back into those behind them.

Realizing that their prey were greatly stronger than them, even if they ganged up on them, the monsters turned to flee. A sudden burst of lightning and the appearance of two powerful youki only added fuel to their fleeing bodies.

"It would seem that perhaps our help was not as needed as we were led to believe," a soft, calm voice sounded from the tree that the two bodies had landed in.

"Hmph, don't you dare think that those nothings are anything like their masters," growled a second voice.

Those two voices, despite the long time since she'd last heard them, were very quickly recognized by Keiko. It put her slightly on guard as the pair leapt down and landed in front of her and Kuwabara.

Hiei and Kurama.

"Well, well, well," she said in a faintly teasing voice as she eyed them carefully. "The thieves. Long time, no see."

"Hello," Kurama said, smiling friendly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Keiko asked, feeling her guard easing up slightly. The expressions their faces were not threatening…well, _Hiei's_ was questionable, but nothing like the last time they'd seen each other. "Here to help us, I hope?"

"Even that fool Koenma knew that human power wasn't enough to kill the Four Saint Beasts," Hiei said, very irritated that he'd been manipulated into aiding in the mission.

"Koenma-sama has assured us that by aiding you," Kurama elaborated. "We'll be cleared of all charges in Reikai."

"Sounds like the toddler heard me complaining," Keiko mumbled, glancing to the side. Seeing Kuwabara quietly watching the interaction between them, she said, "Kuwabara, these are some _acquaintances_ of mine from a while ago…Kurama and Hiei."

"Well, I'm not sure what you guys were talking about earlier," Kuwabara said evenly as a small grin crossed his face. "but I do appreciate your guys help with this."

"Helping isn't the right word," Hiei said, glancing at the weakling human. It was beyond Hiei's understand on just why the Reikai Tantei was associating with people like this ugly bastard. Seeing that he'd gotten both of their attentions, he continued, "Koenma may see us as equals, but I don't. Once we enter the castle, I suggest _we_ do the work. As far as I'm concerned, we're babysitting."

That statement drew a small chuckle from Kurama. Though he silently agreed with his three-eyed friend, Kurama had enough respect for the human pair to not agree outright. Of course, Hiei's statement brought out the exact opposite from Kuwabara.

"Listen, you puny jerk-face," Kuwabara said in a warning voice. "I'm gonna have to beat you up if you keep that attitude up."

"Let's avoid fighting," the small fire-youkai said, not seeming the least bit concerned. "You're not worth it."

"That's it!" Kuwabara growled as he lunged for Hiei. It was with extreme ease that the fire demon dodged and tripped the big oaf. Keiko didn't even flinch as Hiei appeared right in front of her.

"But you, Tantei, are a different story," Hiei said, glaring slightly the girl. "I plan to take my revenge on you, so consider this fair warning."

"Oh, you're gonna ignore me now?!" Kuwabara yelled as he quickly stood and tried to hit Hiei in the head again…and had the same result with falling to the ground as the runt returned to his former position.

"Hiei, we must face this current business before you start your own," Kurama spoke with a clear demand in his voice.

Keiko couldn't help but smile slightly at the small demon. It would seem that after his brief time in prison, Hiei had acquired himself morals. And the fact that such a skilled enemy was now her teammate was a welcomed relief…even if he was a pervert.

"Don't worry about it," Keiko said, responding to his earlier challenge. "I'm quite looking forward to our next fight. I just hope you've gotten better since last time, I known I sure have."

In relative silence, the new team walked towards the castle and its surrounding city. The streets were strangely empty, not that any of them were complaining. It wasn't until they reached they reached the apparent front gates in the thick wall around the castle that they came to a stop.

"Does anybody else think that this is a little too easy?" Keiko asked as she surveyed the entrance wearily. There was nothing that caught her eye to make it seem like there were any hidden traps…which was really starting to unnerve her.

"Perhaps," Kurama agreed. "But there is no prize worth taking that doesn't include a risk."

"I say we make come out and face us like men," Kuwabara said, crossing his arms as he glared into the darkened tunnel.

"You're sense of strategy is amazing," Hiei mocked.

"Are you talking to me, runt-boy?!" Kuwabara barked as he glared at Hiei.

"Let's go," Keiko growled as she started marching down the tunnel, still weary for traps.

The walk through the tunnel was quiet. With each step she took, Keiko's paranoia grew. This was far too easy! There had to be a trap around here somewhere!

As they were nearing the exit of the tunnel, a flapping sound caught their attention. A bat-like creature with a single eye that took up the majority of the creature's body with bat wings and numerous tentacles flew into the tunnel and hovered in front of the group.

"Welcome to Maze Castle," it said in a strange echoing voice. Though how the thing could talk with not mouth or voice-box was a mystery to Keiko. "Those who enter Maze Castle must be tried by the Gates of Betrayal."

"I knew this was too easy," she grumbled as she threw a fierce glare at the bat demon.

Flying back out of the tunnel, the bat opened up a secret hatch and quickly pulled the lever that was hidden behind it. Around them the walls suddenly started to rumble, echoing down the length of the corridor.

"The ceiling!" Kurama yelled.

Too late to run, all of them threw up their hands to catch the massive stone block as it descended. Somehow, they were able to catch its fall and momentarily save their lives, but it was so heavy!

"Heavy, isn't it?" the bat asked in a mocking voice, clearly enjoying their predicament. "Sensors in the walls are able to calculate the exact weight of the ceiling, making it just enough for you four to hold it up long enough for just _one_ of your to escape. Only the traitor among you deserves to enter Maze Castle. That's why it's called the Gates of Betrayal, you see?"

"Just wait until I get my hands on that thing!" Kuwabara managed to grunt out.

"Stay focused or you'll kill us all!" Hiei yelled, straining to maintain the weight as Kuwabara lost his focus and caused the ceiling to drop several inches further.

As the two bickered, Keiko tried to figure a way out of the situation. The most likely way to stop the ceiling lie in that switch that the bat demon had pulled. However she realized that there was no guarantee that that would work; that lever's purpose might only to have been to release the ceiling and the actual one to stop or reverse it could be hidden where else. But even if that switch was indeed the one that they needed, why would they put it right where they could see it? It seemed to easy and too convenient to be anything other than a trap!

With that thought in mind, Keiko realized that the one definite way to save everyone was to destroy the ceiling directly above them. She wasn't sure of the fully extent of Hiei and Kurama's abilities, but she knew that none of Kuwabara's could do the job required. And the only one she knew could handle the situation she had only just barely been able to use. She still had a long way to go in terms of training and reiki to perform it at its fullest abilities.

Yet, in this situation, it should suffice, she realized. "Everyone, listen up! I'm going to let go and then I'm going to blow a hole through this thing! But it's going to take a moment for me to gather enough reiki to do it!"

"Shouldn't we just pull that switch, Yukimura?" Kuwabara asked, glancing between her and the aforementioned lever.

"Yes, but it could be booby trapped too," Keiko stated. "You're just going to have to trust me."

"Right!" was the boy's response as he began gather in his own reiki, focusing it into his muscles for added strength. Seeing the boy's actions, Hiei and Kurama were quick to mirror him.

Seeing them prepared, Keiko let and dropped into a peculiar stance as her reiki began to flare up around her wildly. Her companions were torn between wanting to watch her and covering them eyes from the blinding light she was giving off as her reiki continued to skyrocket to its peak.

_More…more…just a little more…_she chanted to herself. Her reiki, normally a very warm and reassuring energy that flowed through her, was building up quickly through her body. It began swelling and yet compacting in her muscles, drastically increasing her physical strength. But at the same time, the strain of all the accumulating energy was putting a massive strain on her body. _More…more…__**there!**_

"Reikodan!" she called out as she delivered a powerful punch to the slowly descending rock ceiling. Massive cracks spread through the large block first. A nanosecond later the energy she'd been gathering was delivered, rushing through the cracks and exploding violently, leaving large crater in its place.

Covering themselves as the ceiling they'd been holding was reduced to debris, the three of her companions let out cries of surprise and fear as the ceiling crashed down around them. Complete darkness encompassed them as the ceiling landed with a deafening crash to the floor.

Taking a moment regain their bearings and their footing among the rubble, Hiei and Kurama looked over at Keiko's slumped form. She was clutching her punching arm tenderly and her body was shivering uncontrollably, which was understandable given what she'd just forced it to do.

"Very impressive, Keiko," Hiei said in a deceptively neutral voice. "but how do you plan on getting us out of _this_ situation?"

"I was…gonna…leave that…up to you guys," she gasped out around her panting.

"You alright, Keiko-chan?" Kuwabara asked as he hurried over to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, though there was a slight whine in her voice. "I just can't feel my arm anymore."

"You've used over half your power," Kurama observed indifferently. "You'll need lots of time to recover before you're ready for a fight. Leave the rest to us."

"And how do you plan on getting us out of here?" Hiei repeated his original question, turning to his demon partner.

"Leave that to me," Kurama said as he withdrew something from his pocket. He walked over to the section that was the closest to the exit of the tunnel and placed whatever he'd taken into the rubble. With only a small pulse of his youki, the rubble began shaking and cracking.

After only a moment, the rubble began to collapse apparently on its own. Small rays of light began to seep through the darkness, and in those rays, the others could see some things twitching and moving. A few minutes later there was an opening just large enough for them to crawl through. Kuwabara and Keiko were suitably surprised to realize that they were crawling on what seemed to be thick plant roots as they went through the new tunnel.

"A plant's roots is capable of burrowing through almost any known substance if given enough time and energy," Kurama said, smiling knowingly at their surprised and questioning faces.

"So you can control plants?" Keiko asked. "Wow, I'd never have seen that coming if I'd have had to fight you last time."

Hiei, meanwhile, had turned his attention to the bat demon. It was with great pleasure that he drew his sword and brutally slashed it through the eye, sparing it only so it could deliver a mocking message to its masters.

"Say, Hiei," Keiko said as she approached the demon. "Thank you for trusting earlier. I know you'd have rather run off and tried something on your own.

"Don't think too much into it," Hiei snapped. "The only reason I didn't run off is because I _might_ need your help."

"Ha! Whatever you say," Keiko said, smiling sweetly at the demon. Normally whenever someone saw _that_ smile, they were moments away from being knocked out. But in Hiei's case, it was a promise for a fight after the mission.

For some reason, seeing that smile brought an unnatural feeling to Hiei's face. Thankfully for his peace of mind, no one noticed the extremely faint flush that lit up his cheeks before he quickly hid it by turning and walking away.

"That's his way of saying 'your welcome,'" Kurama explained as he walked up to Keiko. "You'll learn."

"He still ticks me off," Kuwabara grumbled as they followed the short demon further into the dangerous castle.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Makai, outside the barrier  
Two days later, 2:53 pm**

"You're sure that this is the place?" he asked as he looked around. It seemed like they were indeed in the right area, but you can never for certain in these parts of Makai. Everything looked the same to people or creatures who were not native to the area and knew what landmarks to look for.

"Positive," his friend said confidently. "Over the next hill is where the barrier starts."

Sprinting ahead of his guide, Raizen approached the hilltop and came to an abrupt halt. There it was, he could see it now. The golden energy bands that formed the barrier and prevented all demons from traveling through it was shining proudly in front of him.

Turning back to his guide, Raizen dug into his traveler's bag and extracted a black bottle. "Thanks for the directions, I'll take it from here. And here's that alcohol I promised you earlier. _Try_ not to drink it all in one sitting, I hear it's as rare as it is tasty."

"Oh, arigato, Raizen-sama!" the horned demon gushed as it took hold of its promised bounty. "But please be careful! The Four Saint Beasts were locked away for a reason after all."

"Don't worry about me," Raizen said, grinning confidently. "I'm more worried about those weaklings Reikai sent in there. Well, see you later, Keiteki."

Reaching out, Raizen lightly pressed his hand against one of the golden threads. If there was one thing that Raizen and most of the youkai population reluctantly respected about Reikai was that their barriers usually proved to some of the most powerful of the three worlds.

Though he knew that this barrier was built with the intention of preventing the demons inside from escaping, there was a slight chance that they'd added human reiki to the mixture. However, due to the fact that Maze Castle was located on the 'second level' of Makai which was deeper into the Demon Realm than most random portals to Ningenkai opened, the chances of the human filtration was pretty low.

Receiving no sudden sharp burn on his fingers as they touched the barrier energy, he smirked and strode confidently through the blazing barrier. Up ahead, he could see Maze Castle. That was where the new Reikai Tantei was most likely heading.

He knew it had to be the Reikai Tantei because it was Koenma who was now the active regulator of the affairs of Ningenkai and the upper levels of Makai. That was how it had been working for the past few centuries; Enma only saw it fit to tangle with the affairs of the deeper levels of Makai when he wasn't busy training his security forces and army for their eventual invasion of Makai. And if Raizen was correct in his assumptions, Koenma had most definitely sent the Japan Tantei to handle the situation since the area being threaten was hers.

And that was why Raizen was even making the journey to Maze Castle. He wanted to see his long-lost childhood best friend again. Though he doubted it severely, he hoped that she somehow remembered him as well.

Pushing himself into his top speeds, Raizen went sprinting towards the castle at his best speeds, leaving little more than faint blur and a powerful gust of wind to mark his passing. _Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to have a little fun with whatever leftovers there are in the castle_, he thought with a grin of eagerness.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Seiryu's lair  
3:28pm**

After what felt like days of running and now having fought their third enemy, the Tantei team gathered around Hiei as he sheathed his sword. The fight against Seiryu had been embarrassingly short when compared to Kurama's and Kuwabara's fights against Genbu and Byako.

"Great job, Hiei!" Keiko said smiling at the short demon.

"How many times did you cut him, Hiei?" Kurama asked, quite interested.

"Only twenty times," Hiei said, looking a little disappointed in himself. Clearly he thought that he should've been able to do more than he actually could.

"Twenty?!" Keiko repeated, slightly surprised. "Kuso, I could only count like ten or twelve!"

"That's better than me, Keiko-san," Kurama said, smiling faintly at the detective. "I could only see flashes of light."

"…Me too," Kuwabara grumbled quietly. After all his training for the past six months, pushing himself to the brink of death, just to be able to master his new Reiken, he was still clearly not at Keiko's level in terms of speed…not that any _normal_ person could be truthfully.

"Oh man, now I'm a little worried," Keiko said, laughing nervously as she returned her focus to Hiei. "The next time we fight, I might not be as lucky as I was last time. Hahaha. It's definitely going to be an interesting one!"

"…Maybe," Hiei said shortly as he turned to gather his robe.

"And here I thought he was gonna say 'well, of course, you bitch!'" Kuwabara said, eyeing the three-eyed demon suspiciously. Of course, his remark earned him a prompt smack on the head by his female companion.

"Hiei seems to be going through a tricky change," Kurama said, ignoring Keiko's justifiable pummeling of her friend. Seeing that he'd acquired the girl's curiosity, he continued, "I think he's beginning to really _like_ you."

The thought that the proud fire demon might be changing his views on her brought a small sense of relief to Keiko. But at the same time, based entirely off of Kurama's 'innocent' observation, it made Keiko a little uneasy as well. Hiei was starting to _like_ her?!

_Well, at least **that** relationship would be an __interesting__ one_, she thought absentmindedly before they rushed through the set of doors on the other side of the room and continued their search for the whistle and final beast.

Sprinting down the long hallway, the group of them emerged from the castle at long last. What they found themselves standing upon was the very long and wide roof. At the far end of the massive roof was mushroom-shaped tower that reached easily several dozen stories into the cloudy sky.

"I believe that is where we will find the final beast," Kurama said as they continued running towards the tower.

"Come on then!" Keiko yelled as she put more power into her sprint.

They were about halfway across the length of the roof when Kuwabara suddenly faltered and came to an abrupt halt. His sudden action didn't go unnoticed and the others stopped as well, looking questioningly at the red-haired teenager.

"Something's going on up there," Kuwabara said, his eyes locked on the top of the tower. "There's someone else in that tower. Someone _very strong!_ Keiko, we don't stand a _chance_ against that guy!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked as she sent her own senses towards the tower. But even with her training with Genkai, Keiko's awareness wasn't strong enough to reach that far distance. "I can't sense anything yet."

"No," Kurama said, now looking slightly alarmed himself. "Kuwabara's correct. I didn't notice it earlier, but it's faint. There is indeed someone else up there…And it smells _human_."

That last word is was what really drew the others attentions. Then Hiei's eyes widened slightly as a strange expression crossed his face. Without a word, he pulled his headband off to reveal his Jagan eye. The eye glowed brightly for a second as he enacted its remote-viewing abilities.

His normal eyes widened ever-so-slightly thanks to what he was seeing inside the tower. Then he promptly closed his eyes as a chuckle escaped his lips.

"What did you see, Hiei?" Kurama asked. What could possibly cause his normally humor-challenged partner to suddenly laugh?

Pointing towards the top of the tower, Hiei merely stated, "That."

Turning back towards the tower, the others watched for a moment before something happened. The section of the tower's roof that was visible to them suddenly exploded, throwing up dust and debris. Passing through it was blonde-haired figure dressed in a red and cream colored outfit, and it was obvious that the figure hadn't done it willingly either.

As the blonde continued to fly up into the air uncontrollably, a second figure dressed in a tan gi leapt through the large hole onto the roof. Pointing its hand up at the blonde, the second figure yelled out loudly enough for even Keiko and the others to hear it.

"Tonde Bachi Juugan!" the person yelled before launching the largest Reigun bullet that Keiko and Kuwabara had ever seen.

However the blonde managed to get control of its flight and tried to dodge the bullet that was speeding up towards it like a freight train. Flashing up next to the blonde far faster than any of them could follow, the second figure landed a double-hammer blow to the blonde's head and set it flying down into the oncoming energy blast.

The massive energy bullet's progress was slowed or altered in the least when the blonde crashed into it. In fact, the blonde seemed to be blown back and carried off by the bullet into the skies. If it hadn't been for the barrier, that blast most definitely would've continued to carry the blonde miles up into the atmosphere before dissipating. Instead, the figure was blown to pieces as it youki in its body reacted to the barrier's energy. The energy in the bullet didn't stop however and continued on its path into the air, bypassing the barrier as though it wasn't even there.

Keiko, Kurama, and Kuwabara were gawking in disbelief by what they'd just seen. The two humans knew instantly that the blonde was Suzaku, leader of the Four Saint Beasts and most definitely the strongest of them. Yet this second person had apparently just handled him like it was child's play. The sheer amount of energy he possessed made it quite clear that he was magnitudes stronger than them!

Kurama was surprised for another reason though. He knew that the barrier filtered out youki from both sides of it. Yet that massive bullet had just passed through it, which meant it could only be reiki. A human. What was a human doing this far into Makai? Humans generally could not live in Makai due to the harsh conditions. And if they survived those, the majority of youkai ate humans as though they were steaks. Even humans who were trained in their reiki preferred to live in Ningenkai because the societies, even with all the crimes and wars, were _much_ safer than Makai.

Hiei just continued to chuckle quietly to himself as he watched the human drop lazily back towards the roof.

"Leader and the strongest of the Four Saint Beasts?!" the person yelled up at the spot where Suzaku had been obliterated as he continued to fall without a care in the world. In fact, it seemed like he was quite enjoying the plummet. "That wasn't even worth calling a _warm-up_, you rakurai-teme!"

When he was only a few meters off the roof, the person finally decided to fold his feet and roll slightly, landing surprisingly lightly in a crouch. Standing back up, the person hefted a weird looking object up to his shoulder.

"The Makai whistle!" Kurama hissed as the person started to began a tune through it.

Realizing that an unknown being was sending out some kind of command via the notes of that whistle, Keiko rushed forward with her fists raised high. Attacking at her best speed, Keiko was surprised to watch her fist sail through the back of his head yet she felt nothing but air. A split second later she saw that he had shifted his body so fast to the side that he'd left an afterimage. And he hadn't even stopped playing the whistle.

Going through a very fast series of punches and kicks, Keiko only continued to hit air as the long, dark haired person danced out of the way of her attacks. The bastard hadn't even turned to face her!

Finally finishing the last note of the song, the person turned to face her, catching her fist in his hand in the process. Keiko found herself staring into the brightest set of hazel eyes that she'd ever seen, they seemed to radiate a strange warmth that instantly set her on edge.

However the person's eyes were set into a chiseled face that was incredibly cute, and that thought greatly embarrassed Keiko when it crossed her mind. The only thing marring that face was a long, thin scar that ran from the center of his forehead, over his left eye and partway down his cheek. Yet even that scar made him seem all the more attractive to her. And the very long mane of dark hair that reached as far as his lower back gave him a slightly wild appear, as though he'd been raised by animals.

His body was solidly built with toned muscles that would've made any male jealous. His tan gi was a little worn and torn, as was the small traveler's bag over his shoulders, but overall he seemed to be very healthy and very strong…as his fist gripping her own suggested.

"Can I help you?" the male asked as a knowing smirk crossed his face.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**(Author's Note)** Short, I know. But I figured, why rewrite the battles if I didn't plan on adding my own twists to them? Besides, I know that this last part is what you all were really looking forward to! Bet I caught some of you by surprise at how quickly I decided to return Yusuke back into the picture.

For the record, Keiko's Reigun limit the same as Yusuke's from canon: four shots a day.

For some reason, my muse had been gunning for this story lately more than Chuuten has. Heh, I bet I got a lot of fans who are cussing me out for that! Even if they won't admit it.

**Keiteki**--_horn, alarm, whistle, foghorn_  
**Rakurai-teme**--_Thunderbolt bastard_  
**Reikoha**--_Spirit Light Wave_, aka Shotgun (equals to one of Keiko's Reigun bullets)  
**Reikodan**--_Spirit Light Bullet_, aka Spirit Wave (equals to two of Keiko's Reigun bullets)  
**Tonde Bachi Juugan**--_Flying Retribution Bullet_, Raizen's signature finishing move


	9. Raizen

The Last Mazoku

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 9: Raizen_

**Ningenkai  
3:40pm**

Botan was quickly discovering three things about herself. The first was that she was horribly out of shape, despite having a gorgeous body. The second was that she wasn't cut out for fieldwork in an environment like this. And finally, she couldn't fight off a fly to save her life, much less a Makai insect-infected human being!

After watching Keiko-chan go through several missions already, Botan had slowly come to believe that women were much stronger than many societies believed them to be. And as she continued to watch Keiko's rapidly rising strength and ability, Botan began to ask herself: why couldn't she? That was why she'd volunteered to run 'damage control' back on Earth while Keiko and her team were handling the Four Saint Beasts.

At first, it had been quite easy. There were only few batches of Makai insects and one or two infected people out of the thousands that populated the city. However as two days slowly began to creep by, things quickly began to change for the worst. Makai insects had begun appearing in large swarms, the numbers of infected people quickly escalated far beyond her means of control. And once they realized that there was someone hunting them, they began to work together to find this person and…_dispose_ of them.

Too late did Botan realize that she'd bitten off more than she could possibly chew. Her request to retreat to the safety of Reikai had come a moment too late; she was surrounded by a large horde of infected humans who were radiating a terrifying level of bloodlust.

Botan could only close her eyes, flail her metal bat around with all her remaining strength, and await their attack and her bloody death. But after a moment she sensed a change in the air, and so did the infected.

Cracking her eyes open, she watched as the infected people around her stopped and stood up straight, as though straining to hear something in the distance. A moment later, Botan watched in confusion as they closed their eyes. Their skin, which had been a deathly white-blue hue, suddenly began to regain a healthy coloring of pink. Abruptly, the crowd of infected collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. Then the Makai insects emerged.

Climbing back to her feet, Botan watched as the massive swarm of insects began to fly up into the atmosphere. They were flying at surprisingly great speeds for something so small in size.

Summoning her oar to her hand, she flew after them. She had to know where they were going and _why _they'd suddenly abandon their hosts.

**Makai, top of Maze Castle  
Same time**

Wrenching her fist free of the longhaired boy, Keiko hopped back lightly to put some space between them in case he decided to attack her. If there was a fight, it would probably be fought only by her. Though she was quite sure that it wouldn't end very well, judging from this stranger's almost casual use of his reiki and speed earlier

Kurama was still very injured by that sneak attack a while back. Kuwabara had almost entirely exhausted his supply of stamina. And even Hiei, despite how quickly his fight had ended, wasn't at his best; having to rejuvenate his frozen arm and leg had taken a significant portion of his youki. It was only their pride that prevented them from slowing down and resting for a bit, especially since they were so close to finishing the mission.

"Who are you?" Keiko demanded, accenting the order by her reiki flaring up angrily. There was something…_almost_ familiar about him but she couldn't think of any reason why.

"What's got your panties in a bundle?" the teenager asked, his small smirk still spread across his face. "Last I checked, that rakurai-teme was your enemy right? Or did you have a very pressing date with the bastard?"

If he'd been watching, Raizen might've seen each of her partners wince at his statement. However he didn't. What he saw instead was the girl's cheeks took a very interesting shade of furious red. Even though her face was winding up into an enraged scowl, he couldn't help but stare at her beauty. Were all girls from Ningenkai this pretty?

A sudden massive spike in reiki, well beyond what he thought was the girl's limit, alerted him to his immediate peril. But even with that nanosecond warning, he was completely and honestly unable to dodge. The resounding slap of her reiki-blazing fist plowing into his face echoed loudly across the rooftop and far into the distance.

Momentarily dazed by the unexpectedly fast and powerful blow, Raizen backed away on unsteady feet. The fact that he didn't go flying, collapse onto his ass, or have a shower of blood come gushing from his nose were the only things that stopped Keiko from rushing forward to snatch the whistle from his weakened grip. She'd thrown _all _of her strength and reiki into that one punch and he hadn't even fallen over!

Shaking the stars from his eyes, Raizen looked back at her with a much greater amount of respect. Then the pain hit. With a loud moan, he grabbed his abused nose and felt a small trickle of blood seep out.

"What the hell was that for?!" he demanded.

"For being a fucking pervert, bastard!" Keiko yelled at him, her cheeks had lost since lost her blush. "Now answer my question! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! And give me that whistle!"

"Jeeze," Raizen moaned, more to himself than her. "What a fucking bitch you've turned out to be."

Keiko was very quickly starting to see red along the edges of her eyesight. No matter how cute this stranger was, he was pushing all the right buttons to piss her off! She was a split second away from trying to blast him with her Reigun when something off to the side caught her by surprise.

Hiei was chuckling.

"What's so funny, Hiei?" Kuwabara asked. He was too weary of the stranger to generate enough effort to attempt at irritating the little runt.

The stranger heard the small fire demon's chuckles as well and glanced over to the source. As his eyes widened slightly in recognition, Keiko saw her chance to grab the whistle. With all her speed, she dashed forward snatched at the whistle…only to grab air as the boy vanished. His sudden disappearance had her flailing and off-balance, ending with her collapsing to the ground in an embarrassing heap, very similar to Kuwabara when he tried to hit Hiei earlier.

"Hey, Hiei!" a loud, cheerful sounded off to the side. "How's it going? Wait, judging from the fact that you're traveling with the Reikai Tantei, an injured youkai, and a buffoon, I'm guessing probably not too well, eh? That must also mean that your grand scheme of ruling Ningenkai didn't work out the way you wanted it to. Am I right?"

Hiei's expression was surprisingly open and cheerful as he stared at the taller boy in front of him, at complete ease. Next to them, Kuwabara stumbled away out of surprise at how unbelieveably fast the stranger was. Kurama was trying to put the pieces together, and was rapidly realizing what was going on.

"Yes," Hiei answered, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips. "And I see that you've not lost your touch with females."

Chuckling good-natured, Raizen rubbed the back of his neck as his warm grin turned a bit strained. "Eheheh, what can I say? Being raised by that ancient psychopath does wonders to a person's personality. Though tell me, when did you get that Jagan?"

"After I stopped trying to _kill_ you," this time Hiei's answer was neutral at best. It was still a very sensitive subject to him, despite his rapidly returning power and his new abilities thanks to his transplant. His strength had once been great enough to even rival his 'friend' Raizen.

"So that's why you're only at this level?" shaking his head woefully, Raizen grumbled out. "And here I was hoping we could have another one of our spars soon. You always were my best partner in that regard!"

"I see," Kurama muttered quietly as he listened intently to their conversation, along with Kuwabara and Keiko. Seeing that he'd unintentionally interrupted their reunion, he spoke up. "You two knew each before Hiei came to Ningenkai in search of myself?"

"For several years actually," the stranger said, absentmindedly spinning the whistle in his hand. "But then Hiei goes and decides that he's destined to be the first youkai emperor of Ningenkai since Reikai put the barrier up."

Only Hiei was not amused by the way his friend had worded his sentence…though it was true to an extent.

"Now that you're finished with reuniting," a female voice growled dangerously behind them. "How about you answer my questions!"

"Please tell me she's not always like that," Raizen asked almost pleadingly to Hiei, not even bothering to turn around to face the incensed girl.

"How should I know?" Hiei replied with a straight face.

Only Raizen could see the dancing mirth behind the fire youkai's bright garnet eyes. Raizen was suddenly wishing that he'd not told him about his long-lost girl friend in Ningenkai and his undying desire to meet up with her again one day. Now that it was happening, things were going less than smoothly…even if Raizen was the cause of most of the girl's wrath.

"Hey, Yukimura asked you a question!" Kuwabara immediately barked, not liking this boy's extremely rude attitude. He must've picked it up from hanging out with Hiei for too long.

"And what's your name, buffoon?" Raizen asked, glancing over at Kuwabara and quickly sizing him up. Though he was definitely nothing special to look at, he had clearly participated a fair deal in the fighting. His clothing, what remained of it, was very filthy and torn, his chest and arms were covered in scrapes and bruises, and he even several deep slashes across his chest and back. Even though his reiki was greatly depleted, he still had more than three times the amount of an average human or E-Class demon, and that was actually _extremely _impressive for an ordinary human his age.

"My name's Kuwabara," the redheaded declared proudly. "The worst punk of Sarayashiki Junior High!"

"Is that suppose to mean something to me?" the longhaired boy asked, seeming to lose interest. Turning to look at the former kitsune youkai, he asked, "Who are you?"

"Kurama," he answered, still studying the stranger very closely. "And may I ask what your name is?"

"You can call me Raizen," he said, smiling warmly as he hefted the whistle up onto his shoulder.

"What were you playing on the whistle before Keiko-san attacked you?" Kurama asked, knowing that the girl was about to explode again soon. For some reason, this Raizen character was really riling her up…but why? "Not many youkai, and especially humans, know how to correctly play the Makai whistle."

"I was just telling those little critters to quite playing around and to come on home," Raizen answered, his smiling not waning.

Marching up to the stuck-up teenager, Keiko grabbed his shoulder and forcefully spun him around to face her. "Why didn't you just say so when I asked before?!"

"Because you didn't ask," Raizen pointed out. "You were yelling like a squealing little trout youkai who'd just learned to swim. You really need to work on your socialization skills because they suck worst than leeches."

A second deafening smack echoed throughout the landscape. _This_ time Raizen fell to the ground out of surprise, rubbing his stinging cheek, and staring up at the girl who's brilliant purple and red-tinted reiki was silhouetting her body in her wrath. But her face was flushed with a truly adorable shade of red. Was this truly his childhood best friend?

He couldn't help but feel himself starting to fall in love with the girl…and her deadly right hook!  
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ningenkai  
3:45pm**

Botan watched in relief as the Makai swarm flew through the small portal, heading back towards Makai. The portal itself was no bigger than the size of a large coin.

Now that she had finally found the portal that the Four Saint Beasts were using, it was easy for her to understand why no one in Reikai had been able to find it. Compared to the common portals that opened, this one was pathetically tiny and gave off a _very_ weak energy signature. In fact it was barely big enough for even an insect the size of the Makai hornets to fit through. But with surprising efficiency, the swarm steadily disappeared.

Pulling out the communication mirror, she quickly switched to the channel that Keiko was using and waited impatiently for an answer. After several moments with no response, she began to get worried. _Did Keiko-chan lose the mirror? Were she and Kuwabara-san alright? Oh, I knew we shouldn't have sent those youkai to help! Kurama may be honorable, but __**Hiei**__ isn't all that noble._

"_Yeah, what is it, Botan?_" came a small voice that put the blue-haired shinigami's fears to rest as the girl's face appeared on the small screen. "_I'm kind of busy here!_"

"Keiko-chan, please tell me you have the whistle!" Botan asked, her voice thick with worry and hope. "Have you finally beaten all of the Saint Beasts?"

As she was talking, Botan noticed that the girl's face was strangely flushed red. And though Botan wasn't exactly an expert at reading a person's body language, the lack of heavy breathing clearly meant that she hadn't engaged any demons in combat. Or were the last few Saint Beasts so weak that she'd beaten them without too much trouble?

"_Well, the Saint Beasts are __**definitely**__ all dead_," Keiko said before throwing a vicious glare off to the side of the screen. "_But we __**still**__ haven't gotten the whistle yet_." Returning her attention to Botan, Keiko asked, "_Why? Is something happening?_"

"Yes," the shinigami answered, confused by the girl's actions and statements. "Only a few minutes ago, the Makai insects suddenly abandoned their hosts and flew off. I've followed them all the way back to the portal. They seem to be heading back towards Makai…Did someone recently play the Makai whistle? That's the only reason that the Makai insects would suddenly leave; someone's calling them back."

Before Keiko could answer, a loud and unfamiliar male voice spoke up, "_See? Do you believe me now, bitch?_"

From Botan's point of view, the world suddenly went spinning as Keiko moved to attack whoever had just spoken, sending the mirror flying. Thanks in part to the mirror's design, it landed right side up after bouncing for a second and coming to a stop. Botan saw a pair of bodies flashing through the air several meters away from the discarded communication device.

Due to the fact that she was somewhat accustomed to people (including herself when she flew on her oar) traveling at much faster than normal speeds, Botan was actually able to see that the two bodies, though just _barely_. One of the body-blurs was clearly Keiko, Botan could tell because of the dark shirt and cargo pants. But the second figure was dressed in something tan colored and had what looked like a long horn or a very thick mane of hair. Though she couldn't hear them clearly, she knew that insults were being thrown between the pair.

After a moment, a large hand scooped up the mirror and Kurama's face filled the screen. "_Please excuse Keiko-san, Botan-san_." Kurama said pleasantly, a hint of a smile on his face. "_But I do believe that you need not worry about the whistle any longer. It is in safe hands as of now_."

"Kurama-san, what's going on? Who's Keiko-chan fighting?" she asked, a little worried for her friend.

"_A friend of Hiei's I believe_," was the answer that caused Botan to flinch out of principle. A _friend_ of _Hiei?!_ "_I do believe that we shall be returning once the two of them are finished…acquainting themselves_."

"Just make sure Keiko-chan and Kuwabara-kun make it back alive, please, Kurama-san?" she almost begged, not liking the strange feeling that growing in her stomach at the thought of another youkai joining her Tantei's posse.

"_Will do_," the kitsune-turned-human said with a nod. "_Out_."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Outside the City of Ghosts and Apparitions  
3:52pm**

"I told you it was faster if we took _my_ shortcut," Raizen stated, turning to the group with a wide and overly cheerful smile. Oh, he _loved_ the feel of the wind through his hair and whipping against his body like that!

Unfortunately, none of the others returned his smile. The big redhead looked he was about to vomit and his face was a very unnatural shade of white while he crouched over on the ground, trying to stop his pulse from racing. Keiko was in much the same condition, trying to get her body readjusted to gravity after such a long descent. Though he had clearly taken the fall better, Kurama did have a slight panicked pant to his breath. Only Hiei seemed nonplussed, though if he was completely unaffected or just better at controlling himself was difficult to determine.

"_ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!_" Kuwabara yelled in Raizen's face once he'd sufficiently recovered.

"If I was," Raizen answered, his smile turning into a sneer. "I most definitely wouldn't have caught your weak, ugly ass before you hit."

"I'm not a weakling, and I didn't need your help!" Kuwabara yelled before gathering what little dignity he had left and trying to _modestly_ say. "I could've just used my Reiken to catch myself if you'd not have gotten in my way."

Raizen, who'd been turning away to start up a conversation with Kurama, paused upon hearing that. Giving Kuwabara his full attention, he slowly and carefully examined the boy and his reiki.

Seeing the strange young man's sudden interest, Kuwabara bluntly asked, "What are you looking at me like that for?"

Snapping out of his slight trance, Raizen stared at the redhead for a moment before he asked. "You can use the Reiken ability?"

"Hai," Knowing that an insult was imminent, especially since he was _Hiei's_ friend, Kuwabara crossed his arms and gruffly said, "Got a problem with that?"

Shaking his head, Raizen threw up a half-hearted attempt at a smile. "No, I'm just surprised that a buffoon like you can use such an advanced ability."

"I'm not a buffoo—what?" Kuwabara responded instantly until he realized just what Raizen had said. "Advanced?"

Turning back to Kurama with a careless shrug, Raizen said over his shoulder, "Materialization like the Reiken ability is only the one of the _rarest_ but most versatile of ki abilities. Only truly _perspective_ people can use it, which is why I'm surprised."

Since he was only one to see Raizen's face with his back turned, Kurama held back his own small smile. Yes, he'd known that Kuwabara's Reiken was rare but he didn't wish to give the boy a bloated ego. Yet this Raizen person was clearly enjoying himself, especially since he seemed to know that Kuwabara would eventually catch onto the insult.

Still not quite seeing the thinly disguised insults, Kuwabara was compelled to ask, stealing the young girl's question right off the tip of her tongue. "Then what about Keiko's Reigun?"

"That's that most _basic_ and _simplest_ of all ki abilities," now Raizen was grinning broadly. "Even a _homicidal bitch_ with no reiki talent could learn _that_ move on her own."

Before Mount Keiko's eruption, Raizen turned his attention to Kurama and asked, "Where'd you guys come through the barrier? Reikai's probably still left it open for your return trip."

"Yes," the kitsune said, wishing to delay yet another argument/violent brawl. Turning, he started to lead the way back. "This way."

"Are you coming with us, Raizen?" Hiei asked, walking up beside his long-missing friend.

Thinking briefly about it, Raizen considered all his agendas. He still had a loosely scheduled 'battle to the death' with his father in about three months. Then there was the Neko-youkai uprising in the higher provinces of his father's territory that needed to be quelled in the near future, but that wasn't really a priority of his own. Actually it was more of a 'training request' from Hokushin than anything else, so no true threat to his father's rule. And finally there were a few purchases of extremely rare/legendary weapons and other artifacts that he wanted to make. But since those dealers were literally eating out of his pocket, he could make those whenever he wanted.

And he still did have two reasons to return to Ningenkai recently anyway…

"For a little bit, I guess," he answered finally, lacing his fingers behind his head carelessly. His statement drew glares from Keiko and curious and wary stares from Kuwabara and Kurama.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ningenkai  
4:12pm**

"Oh thank goodness you're okay!" Botan cried happily as her Reikai Tantei and the impromptu Tantei assistant reappeared through the green veil of the barrier. "I want a full report! What happened in there? And who's this 'friend of Hiei's that I've heard about?"

As she was speaking, two more figures jumped out of the barrier. Hiei and Kurama. They didn't bring that other youkai with them, did they?

"The Saint Beasts are dead," Keiko said, her face still wearing a large frown in her anger. "But I still haven't destroyed the whistle."

"What? Why?"

"Because I won't let her," a male voice said as a fifth figure jumped out of the barrier. "I don't think it's the right thing to do against a colony of innocent creatures."

Botan flinched back automatically as the figure presented himself. He was clearly a fighter, the muscles and facial scar made that abundantly obvious. But he was drop-dead gorgeous, even with that messy heap of long dark brown hair on his head! Yet the reiki aura he was giving off was not only extremely powerful, but also completely and unquestionably _human_.

"Who are you?" she asked. "And what's a _human_ doing in _Makai?!_"

"This is going to be a long day, isn't it?" the person muttered to himself as he glanced to the side in annoyance.

"Botan's a shinigami," Hiei said in a neutral voice. Only Raizen heard the slight warning tone in his voice and it quickly put him on guard.

All shinigami reported to Enma. And for the last six years, Raizen-dono and his entire kingdom had done all they could to keep his descendant's existence a secret from Reikai and Raizen-dono's enemies until he was sufficiently strong enough to fend off their assassins.

"Blue hair?" Raizen said as he tapped the aforementioned whistle on his shoulder. He made sure to keep up the charade that he wasn't concerned with the young-looking girl as a way of hiding his anxiety. "_That's_ real subtle."

"What's wrong with my hair?!" Botan demanded hotly. Her hair was her pride and joy because it set her apart from the vast majority of females from any of the three worlds. _And it was completely natural!_

"Nothing," Raizen said distractedly. "Just curious if you were trying to make a statement with it."

"Raizen-san," Kurama interrupted politely. "Where do you plan on staying while here?"

"I was gonna—"

"You're not going anywhere without an escort!" two female voices snapped out simultaneously.

All four males stared in surprise as Keiko and Botan, who both wore matching expressions of resolute determination. Even their ki auras were similar. They were deadly serious and their anger at Raizen for his insults only reinforced their decision.

"And why should I need an escort?" Raizen demanded as soon as his surprise wore off.

"You are an unregistered reiki-user, and a powerful one," Botan said, her voice softening slight as her gentle nature started to return. "We cannot allow someone like you to move around without any idea of what your intentions are. Who knows what kind of havoc you could or would cause?"

"And you probably don't know anything about this world's customs, do you?" Keiko asked, a slight sneering tone in her voice.

She was quite sure in her assumption that she was correct. In the short time that she'd been around him, she'd examined his reiki aura carefully. Though he was human, the 'waves' and 'tremors' in his aura were highly unusual for a human. In her mind, they were so out of sync with a normal reiki-user's aura because he'd grown up in and around such violent creatures like the demons of Makai.

"And what if I say 'no'?" Raizen asked, his lips twitching violently as he restrained the urge to smile at the girl. Oh, he couldn't have set this scenario any better if he'd planned it out step by step!

"I'm sure Koenma-sama would be more than happy to send out some of his stronger agents to bring you in," Botan said in a tone that vaguely reminded the other's of Keiko when she was 'sweetly promising' a brutal punishment, even the small smile looked similar.

"Be hounded to Enma's lapdogs or be hounded by a homicidal bitch?" Raizen summed it up with a thoughtful tilt of his head. "Tough choice."

"I don't know," Kuwabara said frowning. "How can you guys be sure he won't go psycho on us?"

"If he'd wanted to harm any of us," Kurama spoke quietly. "I'm sure he'd have done so before now."

"Then it's settled," Keiko said, feeling strangely triumphant. Was it just because she'd finally won an argument against this strange boy? Turning to Raizen, she pointedly said, "You're going no farther than five feet away from me!"

As the group began walking out of the warehouse, they failed to notice Raizen's smile. _I wouldn't have it any other way, Keiko-chan. Not at all_.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**(Author's Note)** I know, I know! It's been like forever since I last updated anything. Sad thing is that my time online and on my computer has been drastically slashed to practically nothing in the last two months. Until I somehow get myself a job and/or an apartment, I'm bound by the whims of my mother and stepfather.

Gah! I wish I was still in the military!!

Consider yourselves lucky that I was able to sneak this chapter through and post it. I doubt I'll be getting another one up for another few months. Hopefully it'll be for Chuuten. Unfortunately, my muse for that story has been ground to an all-time low and these restrictions are not helping in the least.

Please tell me what you think of this chapter and what you expect to see in the next chapter. I don't plan to transition straight to the 'Rescue Yukina Arc' unless I have to. Any ideas you'd care to propose would be quite appreciated.

_-dono—Lord_


	10. Back in Ningenkai

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 10: Back in Ningenkai_

**Ningenkai  
3:40pm**

It was with unfeigned interest that Raizen glanced around him at the surrounding cityscape. While this wasn't the first time that he'd visited Ningenkai since he left six years ago, he hadn't been in a big city. For some reason, the high-rise buildings, enormous crowds of oblivious pedestrians, foul-smelling vehicles, and the bustling noise of the city just didn't seem the same.

Although he'd been born and raise in a city all those years ago, the sensation of returning to a large city after spending years out in the plains, forests, and swamps of Makai was truly an interesting one. In Makai, a human had to look over his shoulder not once or twice but six or seven times to be sure that he wasn't being followed by some hunger youkai, and that was in the deeper, more 'civilized' levels. The complete lack of any man-eating youkai trying to hunt him was a very liberating and yet completely alien feeling.

Next to him, Keiko was forced to walk fairly close to him due to the dense crowd. It was shortly after the city high and middle schools were released for the day, so there was a large number of students roaming the streets. Using the crowd to their advantage, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara had quietly bid their farewells and left. And though neither Keiko nor Raizen paid the students much attention, the duo were attracting a great deal of attention from their peers.

"Hey, who's that guy?" a high school girl asked as the duo walked passed her and her friends. "He's cute!"

"I don't know," one of her friends answered. "That hair is just nasty! Do you think he's that Yukimura's boyfriend? They are walking rather close to one another."

"Yukimura with a boyfriend? What kind of guy would want a bitch like her as a girlfriend?"

Glancing out the corner of his eye, Raizen saw Keiko grinding her teeth together in anger at the less than discreet comments. Her reiki was spiking in her anger, and to those who were sensitive enough, it was throwing up big red warning signs all over the place.

A small smirk played across Raizen's face as he came to stop. His sudden halt drew Keiko's and the girls' gazes. Turning slightly, he sent a practiced grin over to the girls, one that he knew from experience could turn any female (human or youkai) into a bubbling mess of blushes and giggles. And true to form, the girls suddenly found themselves hopelessly enamored by the gorgeous boy who was giving them such an charming smile.

"Raizen," Keiko said, warningly. She had agreed to escort him during his stay on Earth, but watching him flirt with other girls was _not_ on the list! It caused…_something_ inside her to twist into a tight bundle. Something that she didn't like! Snatching his wrist in a tight grip, she yanked him non-too-gently back down their earlier trail. "Let's go! We're going to miss the train."

"Well, somebody's jealous," he remarked as he allowed her to pull him along.

"I'm not jealous," she growled, annoyed.

"Right," he said, not believing her for an instant. "You're just blushing because you're eager to catch this 'train' thing, right?"

"Oh _shut up!_" That statement drew a smug grin from Raizen.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Reikai  
Same time…**

"So, overall, the mission was a success?" Koenma asked, before sitting back in his chair with a long sigh of relief. "What a relief!"

"Koenma-sama," Botan said, unable to restrain her curiosity. "Weren't you watching Keiko and the others on your television? How could you not have known about what happened at the end?"

"I'm really not sure what happened," Koenma answered, crossing his arms and frowning deeply into his pacifier. "At about the same time that Kuwabara sensed something happening in Suzaku's tower, the screen suddenly went blank. And no matter what we tried, we couldn't clear it up!…But that's not important right now. Tell about this Raizen character you just encountered. On the power level chart, what would _you_ classify him as, Botan-san?"

"It's hard to say, really," Botan said honestly as she started to thoughtfully tap her right temple. "He was rather good at hiding the majority of his reiki aura. But from what Keiko and Kuwabara said, he must easily be mid-B-class. Maybe even higher."

"I was afraid of as much," Koenma said seriously. "With a reiki-user as powerful as he is, I get the feeling that we'll be hard-pressed to restrain him if he suddenly got hostile."

"About that, sir," the blue ogre spoke from where he was standing off to the side. "I just don't understand. How was it that he has been able to avoid our detection for so long? I mean, Reikai keeps constant tabs on everyone who even shows the tiniest inkling of reiki ability. Plus, how was he even able to get as deep into Makai as he did?"

Groaning childishly as he slumped in his chair, Koenma grumbled out, "_I don't know, ogre!_…But there's something about this 'Raizen.' …I feel like I should recognize him from somewhere, but I keep drawing up a blank for some reason."

"What should we do, sir?" Botan asked. "With as strong as he is, no one on the Tantei team would be able to beat him, _even if _they worked together!"

"I guess all we can do now is pray," Koenma said, resignedly. "Pray that Raizen doesn't decide to go ballistic."

"Heh, you needn't worry about him," a voice spoke up from the doorway. All three inside the room turned to see Hiei and Kurama standing just the doorframe. Hiei had his hands thrust into his pockets and wore a very serious expression as he continued, "Regardless of if he suddenly decided to kill one of those pathetic humans, he has much bigger plans that do not include being hunted by Reikai like a common criminal."

"I'm surprised that you hold him in such high regard, Hiei," Koenma remarked almost nonchalantly. "I was under the impression that you hated all humans, no matter how strong or skilled they were."

"I do," Hiei growled as he turned to leave. "But Raizen is the one and _only_ exception."

"What was that all about?" Botan asked as she stared after Hiei's retreating form.

Chuckling quietly to himself, Kurama turned and said, "I believe that Hiei is merely asking you to not treat his friend like another random demon. And though I've only met him once, I think that Raizen's arrival will pose no threat to Reikai or the people of Ningenkai."

Sighing deeply, Koenma said, "I hope you're about that, Kurama. I'm putting my faith in that, so I hope it's the right choice." Digging into his drawer, Koenma pulled out a sheet of paper so that he could send a message to his father about this strange new character.

_**Hopefully**__, this Raizen won't cause any major disruptions while he's on Earth._

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ningenkai  
4:10pm**

"Hey you!" a gruff voice called from up ahead of them. "What's your business with my girlfriend?"

A trio of tall, solidly built teenagers stood several meters ahead of them. The bald one with beady little eyes in the center who'd spoken had a particularly ugly glare aimed at Raizen.

Judging from the way he had his hands thrust into the pockets of his pants, Raizen could tell that he used to being the one in control. His stance was overconfident but ready. Yet he also seemed to be leaning a bit too much on the balls of his heels. Differences in strength and power aside, if Raizen had attacked him in that instant, this teenager wouldn't be able to react in time. He was all show, no substance.

All this raced through Raizen's mind within a second of the boy calling out to him. Knowing that he held no threat to him, Raizen just snorted at his weak attempt of intimidation.

"Kensuke," Keiko growled, her eyes narrowing as she shifted slightly, readying to attack if need be. "I've told you _thousands_ of times! I'd sooner cut my arm off than be _your_ girlfriend!"

"Now, now, Keiko-chan," Kensuke said, in a voice he no doubt assumed was endearing. "You shouldn't be going around with creeps like this maggot. People might think you're cheating me."

_Boy, this guy is oblivious_, Raizen thought idly as he watched Keiko and Kensuke start arguing. _I'd bet that Keiko-chan probably gave him some kind of brain damage when he was younger. There's no way a guy could be so stupid as to __**completely **__ignore a girl's opinion._

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Kensuke yelled angrily, snapping Raizen's attention back to him. "What's the matter? Are you scared of getting hurt?"

"Yeah, definitely brain damage," Raizen muttered to himself as he began walking forward. Returning his attention to the boy as he began flexing his shoulder, he called, "You wanna fight huh? Is that all you want? Alright, I'll play with you, though I doubt I'll even work up a sweat."

"Back off, Raizen!" Keiko growled, grabbing his shoulder. "This is an old fight of mine!"

Snorting, Raizen pulled himself free of her grasp. "If it's _that_ old, then why haven't you _finished_ it yet?" His question froze her for a moment, as did the questioning glare he sent at her. But it quickly softened, becoming an almost endearing grin. "Don't worry, I won't hurt him…_much_."

"_Get your slimy hands off __**my**__ Keiko-chan!_" Kensuke yelled as he charged forward. With extreme ease, Raizen danced and leaned out of the way of the big guy's incredibly slow and predictable punches.

"Did you know that you're dropping your guard on your right side?" Raizen asked, lazily moving to the left. "Not only that, but your completely off balance too." He demonstrated this point by grabbing Kensuke's outstretched arm and giving a small tug, pulling him right off his feet and sending him tumbling face-first to the dirt.

"You guys wanna join in the fun?" he asked Kensuke's friends as they glared at him. His expression was wide and hopeful. "Come on! We might have a _real_ party then!"

"WHY YOU!!" Kensuke screamed as he scrambled to his feet, pulling out a knife. Rushing Raizen's back, he cocked back his weapon and sent it forward in a slash for his spinal column…only to hit air when the longhaired teen disappeared.

"You're really slow," a voice spoke up behind him as Kensuke found himself with a blade to his throat. Trembling uncontrollably at the touch of cold steel to his vulnerable throat, Kensuke felt himself begin to sweat badly out of fear. Was he going to die?! Oh, he didn't want to die yet!!

"You're lucky you're so insignificant," Raizen muttered in a voice that could freeze liquid nitrogen. "I normally kill bugs who attack my back." A sudden sharp blow to the back his neck sent Kensuke falling into the blissful realm of dreams.

Dropping the useless piece of scrap metal that he'd snatched from the boy, Raizen turned and gave Kensuke's friends a deep glare. The boys didn't last two seconds before they'd turned and ran for their lives.

Keiko, who'd been watching the whole thing with a bored expression, smirked to herself. She'd recognized that glare anywhere. _Raizen __**must've**__ learned that from Hiei…but that one wasn't nearly as good as his._

"Come on, you!" Keiko ordered walking forward, being extremely careful to step on Kensuke as she passed him. "We're going to be late!"

"Just where are we going again?" Raizen asked in a bored tone as he walked up beside her. "I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get a little hungry. I could really go for a nice barbequed shrimp-youkai with a dash of hornet-youkai honey. Mmm! Now _that's_ heaven!"

"That sounds disgusting!" Keiko snapped, trying with all her might to not imagine what Raizen was describing. "How can you possibly eat demons?!"

"Hey, it's not like they have endless stores of rice or a hamburger pit-stop in Makai!" Raizen said, a little defensively. "A man's gotta make due with what he has available!"

"Well, don't tell me about it!" she yelled. This was far from being her topic of choice in a conversation with him. After a moment of allowing her slight temper to damper down, she said, "And we're going first to downtown for a make-over."

"A what?" Raizen asked, turning to her with questioning eyes. When he saw her gaze drift up to the unruly rat's nest he liked to call his hair, it clicked in his mind. "Wait, do you mean a--NO! No, _no, no, no! _I'm not going anywhere near a barber shop!"

"Yes you are!" Keiko snapped, glaring hard at him. "In case you haven't noticed, you look like an idiot with that hairdo!"

"I like my hair!" he snapped back, glaring at her with equal ferocity. "Nothing you say or do will make me change my mind!"

"We'll see about that," Keiko muttered to herself as her hand whipped and grabbed his ear when he started to turn to run away. With all her strength, she yanked him back towards where she was heading.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

She knew in an instant that she'd found one of his weaknesses. No matter how strong his body may have been, she found she could lead him around like a puppy on a leash by simply squeezing his earlobe and he never once tried to retaliate. Maybe he was afraid of losing his ear if he fought back?

In no time flat, they were in the barber shop. However, it was no easy task getting Raizen to cooperate since he was determined to keep his hair long. He was just short of using his Reigun on her to escape when Keiko suddenly flashed him an almost mischievous smirk.

"I've got an idea, Raizen," she said, eying him with annoyance. "A game of janken. If I win, you have to get your hair cut!"

"Fine then," Raizen said, despite for a chance to escape. Why did she have to be so damn persistent about this?! Then he was struck with a devious idea. "But if _I_ win, you have to tell Kuwabara you're in love with him!"

Keiko's eyes widened for a brief moment. And in that moment, she was very close to deciding on just calling off the game and letting Raizen keep his hair. Sure, it didn't look _that_ bad, but it was still an eyesore in modern society.

"I hate you," she growled, raising her fist in preparation. "One, two, three!"

Raizen: scissors. Keiko: rock.

"NOO!!" Raizen yelled out as Keiko sighed in relief. The pained and horrified expression on Raizen's face was as though he'd just lost a part of himself. "Best two out of three!?"

"No," she said, smiling evilly. "Deal's a deal. Now go!"

Grumbling loudly, he was shoved none-too-gently towards the impatient barber. After almost ten minutes of trimming and refining after cutting the majority of the hair from the back of his head off, Raizen finally emerged from behind the curtain with a very deep frown.

Keiko had to do a double-take when she saw him. Though he'd been cute with his long hair, he was positively gorgeous now! The hair on the back of his head and along his temples had been trimmed down to less than an inch in length while the rest of it on top remain as long and unruly as it had been.

"I _really_ hate you," he growled as he stormed out the door.

Quickly recollecting her wits, Keiko was fast to follow after him, wearing a smug grin on her face. "Finally, Raizen! We agree on something!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Genkai's Temple  
8:44pm**

The normal calm and quiet stillness of her compound was something of great relaxation that she had come to relish in. But after choosing her successor, Genkai had spent the last six months with the young woman nonstop. And while she greatly enjoyed Yukimura Keiko's companionship, Genkai had quickly grown to miss the relaxing environment her home had once afford her..

As she was quietly drinking a cup of her favorite tea, listening to the tranquil music of the birds, she felt something. It was a slight tremor in the wards that she'd placed around her compound to warn her of the approach of powerful ki-users, be it demons or humans.

_Hm…two of them_, she guessed, stretching out her senses. The duo were walking up the main path of her compound, which meant that they probably weren't coming for a fight. Kami knew how many times she'd had to knock some delusional moron senseless because they thought they had what it took to beat or kill her. Then she recognized the feel of one of the reiki auras, having grown accustomed to it after several months of training. _I wonder why Keiko has returned so quickly_.

Turning her attention to her apprentice's friend, she tried to get a read on his strength. After a moment of searching, a frown crossed her lips. The person, most likely a male based on the feel of the aura, was very skilled with reiki. For one as experienced as she, Genkai could sense that he was hiding a vast portion of his power. Normally, she'd be able to easily sense the depth of that hidden reserve…but for some reason she couldn't this time. What she could tell though was that he was _extremely_ powerful.

Setting her tea down, Genkai quickly rose to greet her two visitors.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I don't care how powerful you think you might be," Keiko was saying as she and the stranger came into view. "you're nothing compared to Genkai-sama. _And would you __**stop**__ playing with your clothes!_"

"Oh _shut __**up **__already!_" the boy snapped, clearly uncomfortable with the jeans he was wearing. "I hate these things! First chance I get, I'm _burning_ these things!"

"Do you have any idea how expensive those were?!" Keiko snapped, her face reddening slightly from anger. "And I got them so you wouldn't stick out in public. Do you have any idea how stupid you looked in that gi?!"

"Do you think I care what some weak-ass, whimsical society thinks about how I want to dress myself?" the boy retorted, glaring at Keiko with equal ferocity. "Besides, we're not in the stupid city anymore! I'm changing!"

"No, you're not!" Keiko yelled out as her hand snapped out and she clamped down on his ear. She ignored his pained protests and continued to march across the courtyard of the temple. "First you're going to meet Genkai, then you're going to explain to us who you are and where you came from!"

"I'll be doing no such thing!" the boy's protest might've made more of an impact if he hadn't been doubled over and trying to gently pry his ear out of her hand.

Chuckling loudly, Genkai stepped out of the shadows that she'd hidden herself in. "My, my. Don't you two make an interesting couple."

"Genkai-sama!" Keiko cried, her face reddening once again. "That's not even close to being funny!"

"Who's your friend?" she asked, nodding towards the boy, who'd finally been released from Keiko's grip.

"He calls himself Raizen," Keiko answered, ignoring the boy's low grumbles. "Kuwabara and I found him in Makai while we were dealing with the Four Saint Beasts."

"Makai?" Genkai asked surprised. That would certainly explain why and how this boy was so skilled with using his reiki. And now that she was examining him up close, he definitely had the look of someone who grew up around and fighting youkai, even that thin scar of his.

"So what?" Raizen asked. "It's not all that hard to find an open portal between the worlds these days!"

"Let me guess, Keiko-chan," Genkai said, interrupting whatever her apprentice wanted to say. "You don't have any place to keep him while he's here and you don't trust him to not get into trouble. So you want to keep him here."

"Hai," Keiko muttered, looking less then happy about the arrangement. "Gomennasai, Genkai-sama. I know you like your solitude, but I just don't want to bring him home with me."

"Now that just did _not_ sound right," Raizen muttered to himself, and was quickly elbowed far from gently in the stomach. However the statement drew an amused grin from Genkai as she turned and walked back inside her temple.

Once the trio had settled down in the Genkai's dining room, a partially tense silence settled around the younger duo. The renowned psychic ignored their tension as she quietly returned to sipping her tea.

"So, what's your story, boy?" she asked after finishing her cup.

"Oh, it's not all that interesting," Raizen said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as he glanced out the open doorway. Genkai could see his yearning to be escape as clearly as she could see him once again tugging at the green T-shirt he wore. "Actually it's pretty boring. I don't think you'd want to hear all the grimy deta--_OWW!_"

Keiko's hand clamped down tightly upon Raizen's closest ear as she shot him a deadly glare. "I really don't want to do this the hard way, Raizen."

"Ha!" he laughed out around his pain. "The hard way is also usually the most fun!"

"That's enough flirting, you two," Genkai interrupted, earning herself two fierce glares. "Besides, I think I can guess what your story is anyway." Seeing that she had captured their attentions enough for them to settle down, she continued, "You were taken in by a master reiki-user who wanted to pass on his legacy. As time passed and you trained, you eventually started wondering through Makai looking for stronger challengers to test your strength against."

"…Damn, you're good," Raizen uttered, looking a bit surprised at how close to the actual truth Genkai had come.

"I know there's more to your story," Keiko said forcefully. "Like why and how you were able to get into the City of Ghosts and Apparitions? Botan said that Reikai had put a very powerful barrier up around the city, so there's no way you could've gotten inside."

"That barrier was only created to filter out youkai, and I'm a ningen," Raizen said slowly, as though talking to an young child. "I could walk right through it. Lucky me."

"And why were you there?" Keiko demanded. "Looking for more challengers?"

"…Maybe," he drawled out. Only Genkai caught the hidden note of amusement in his voice as he glanced at her apprentice with a sneer. "Or maybe I wanted to join the Four Saint Beasts crusade of conquering Ningenkai? Or I wanted to meet the new Japan Reikai Tantei? Or I wanted to recover the Makai whistle they'd had stolen from me? Which one do you think?"

"That whistle was yours?!" Keiko demanded, very surprised. "Why didn't you just destroy it before they got their fucking hands on it?!"

"Do you have any idea how useful that thing has been to me in the past?" Raizen demanded, matching Keiko's accusing glare with one of his own. "I _refuse_ to destroy something so _rare!_"

The glares that the two were throwing at one another were so fierce that Genkai was sure that sparks of lightning between them would not have been out of place. _It would seem Keiko has finally met someone who can match her temper blow for blow_, she thought with a small smile. _They would make an interesting couple_.

Instead, she refilled her teacup and said, "Why don't you take this dispute outside?"

"Gladly!" the two yelled simultaneously before rushing out to the courtyard.

Picking up her teacup, Genkai followed them to the edge of the veranda. By the time that she'd leisurely arrived, the two were already locked in vicious combat. She watched in interest as they fought.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Raizen's scowl when they'd started fighting was rapidly becoming strained. He was so uncomfortable wearing the abominations Keiko called jeans that he wasn't able to generate the usual carefree smile he wore whenever he played with someone. But as he continued to play on the defensive, his discomfort was quickly being overrun with his usual glee of a good fight.

Normally whenever he fought against someone he had no intention of killing or maiming, he put restrictions on the ways he fought or how much power he used. For this one, he decided to play defensive with no use of his reiki, super speed, or his right arm. And for the moment, Keiko seemed quite content to let her fists do the talking.

She rushing forward, fists swinging so fast they were barely blurs of speed, but he was able deflect or block every single one with the barest of ease. Seeing her expression when she realized that he was just toying with her, Raizen's scowl finally evaporated as his smile blossomed fully on his face.

"What's wrong, Yukimura?" he asked, trying to sound innocent and confused, something he'd never quite mastered. "I thought you were better than this."

Growling audibly, Keiko drew back her fists and channeled reiki into them, making them glow vibrantly. The next barrage of glowing fists were easily twice as fast as the first set, but still deflected.

"Is that it?" he asked, finally lashing out with a kick. He connected solidly and knocked her flying to the side almost a dozen meters in distance. "You know, if you fought like this against that Suzaku guy of the Saint Beasts, you'd have gotten your pretty little ass creamed. Please tell me that wasn't the extent of your abilities."

Sitting up and spitting out a small amount of blood, Keiko regarded her foe carefully. He was stronger than her in terms of reiki and physically apparently. He was also much faster than her too, using only one hand to block even her fastest barrage. But how good was his reiki awareness? This called for a change of tactics.

Quickly standing up, she began gathering her reiki into her fist again. "_Don't_ you dare start talking big just because I'm a _girl! Reikoha!_"

Firing an especially large Reikoha, Keiko dashed into action. Regardless of if that move had any affect, she wasn't going to leave it to chance!

Seeing the wall of miniature purple Reigun bullets racing at him, Raizen merely raised his hand as they closed in on him at impossible speeds. _I said no reiki_, he thought to himself. _And therefore I won't! _With astounding speed and dexterity, his lashed out and deflected every single energy blast that wouldn't hit him. The result was having a massive bullet pattern suddenly imprinting the wall behind him with only a small place in the center where he'd been standing left untouched. The reward for his efforts though was a badly sunburned and smoking hand.

"Ouch," he said quietly, staring at his burned hand.

Even as he said that, Keiko suddenly appeared behind him with her leg already swinging around. Ducking rapidly under her kick without even glancing at her, Raizen conversationally spoke up, "Did you know that reiki can only burn another's flesh if the user's emotional state is unstable?"

Jumping and delivering a powerful ax-kick, Keiko's heel smashed through his afterimage and impacted with the stone ground, leaving a two-meter wide crater. Looking up from the center of the crater, she spotted Raizen standing on the edge still gazing at his burned hand. "That means you're confused or angry about something in your life. I wonder what it is. Friends? Family matters? Or maybe just your role in life?"

"Whether I'm confused or pissed off is none of your business!" Lifting her hand, she fired a full-strength Reigun straight at him. Rather than dodge it, Raizen merely drew back his arm and swatted it aside, sending the bullet flying off into the forest where it exploded against a tree violently.

Jumping to the opposing side of the crater, Keiko glared angrily at Raizen. How was that such a person could exist? He was only stronger, faster, and a better fighter than her in every way that mattered. But he even when he wasn't fighting, he was the most annoying, stubborn, pigheaded, and just weird boy she'd ever met!

Raizen continued to smile at her from across the crater. His expression was completely open and cheerful, almost endearing in a strange sort of way. The demon boy was just waiting patiently for her to continue her attack. _Well, why not give him something to knock that smug grin off his face!_

Dropping into a familiar stance, Keiko's reiki began to flare violently around her. She kept her eyes trained completely on Raizen as he continued to smile. As her reiki levels began to rise higher and higher, his smile grew ever wider. That cocky bastard!

Reaching what she knew to be the limit of her body, Keiko leapt across the small crater with speeds far above what she earlier limit was. She had burst of vindictive pleasure in seeing the boy's eyes widen ever so slightly in surprise at her unexpected speed. That surprise, combined with how close together they were, was just what Keiko needed to land her first blow. The incredible punch to his chin, backed up with a blast of her remaining reiki, sent Raizen rocketing skyward.

As soon as her strength and reiki fled her with that attack, she dropped to her knee, panting extremely heavily. Lifting her head, she watched as the small dark bead that was Raizen reach the zenith of its upward flight and began to fall back to earth. A wide grin spread across her exhausted face as she watched him continue to fall unmoving.

"That's what you get, bastard!" she yelled up at him.

But rather than crash down in the courtyard, Raizen merely rolled over and landed heavily on all fours. A spider web of cracks tore up the courtyard around him as he impacted. Standing up, he looked at her with what could almost be called respect before spitting the pool of blood out of his mouth and wiping his jaw.

"What the _hell _was _that _move?!" he demanded, flashing over to Keiko and grabbing her shoulders. "_You've __**got **__to teach me it! ONIGAI, KEIKO-SAMA!!_"

His expression had not changed in the least. It was still wide open and smiling. Yet there was an almost maniacal gleam to his eyes as he continued to demand, order, and even begged her to teach him.

"No," she said simply as she tore him off her body. "Go ask Genkai-sama."

"Genkai-sama, can you teach me that?!" Raizen practically begged from where he was now kneeling in front of the old lady. "I'll do whatever you want, just please teach me that move!"

Chuckling at Raizen's completely unabashed desire to learn her favorite technique, Genkai shook head. "I have sworn to only teach the Reikodan to one person in my life: my apprentice. It is entirely Keiko-chan's choice--"

"Come on, Keiko!" Raizen asked Keiko, once again holding her firmly by the shoulders. "I could kick so much ass with that technique back in Makai! Come on! Please?!"

Laughing softly to herself, Genkai turned and walked back inside her temple home. Outside, she listened in amusement as Keiko's and Raizen's voices rapidly escalated in volume until they were having a full-out shouting match.

_This one is going to be __**very**__ entertaining in the future_, Genkai decided as she settled down in front of one of her favorite video games.

xxxxxxxxxx**XXXXXXXXXX**xxxxxxxxxx**XXXXXXXXXX**xxxxxxxxxx**XXXXXXXXXX**xxxxxxxxxx**XXXXXXXXXX**xxxxxxxxxx

**(Author's Note)** I have only really two things to say this time. I have recently started a forum for my two current stories: _Chuuten_ and _Mazoku_. If you have any questions or comments you may wish to make, feel free to visit.

Also, I have started a poll on whether or not Raizen should participate in the Dark Tournament. Overall, I really don't care what he does in or during the tournament, but I figured you guys would to have an opinion in the matter.

I look forward to seeing the results and your opinions in the near future.

Onegai--please


	11. Scars That Never Heal

**This chapter dedication goes to FictionReader98 for beta-reading. Thanks a bunch, my friend!**

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 11: Scars That Never Heal_

**Reikai  
12:40am**

Enma sat behind his massive throne, his face basked in the shadows of the monstrously large room. Because of the darkness surrounding his expression, the monstrous frown that was etched into his cheeks would've been a dead give-away for what his mood was. Held firmly in his hands was a tiny sheet of paper that he'd received from his son. That, in and of itself, was a highly worrisome matter.

Millennia ago, when he'd entrusted the operating of Reikai to his young son, Enma had it abundantly clear to Koenma that only issues of extreme importance concerning Ningenkai should be brought to his attention. At that time, Enma had just begun creating and training his armies for the invasion of Makai. Enma's wrath at the youkai who dared to question and rebel against his rule had been immense. But due to the fact that the youkai who rebelled were magnitudes stronger than even him, he had eventually been forced to completely seal off Makai. And ever since then, five long centuries, he and his armies had been very slowly taking over the top most province of Makai.

If it hadn't been for the sudden rise of the Three Kings that rallied the majority of the stronger youkai together, Enma knew for a fact that his armies could've easily taken complete control of at least the top five layers of Makai. But because he feared invoking the collective wrath of the Three Kings, he had to have his soldiers slowly take land throughout the years. Enough that it wouldn't startle the Kings into retaliation.

Enma knew that his elite could easily handle the strongest of A-class, but not even his elites with all their training and combat experience could allow them to delve into the awesome powers of the S-class.

It was through his continuous schemes of eventually conquering Makai that Enma had once become acquainted with each of the Three Kings. One in particular had been a constant source of confusion to the Reikai Emperor; the great Raizen-sama, a man-eater, was trying to fight for the humans survival? Enma's spy network in Makai informed him that Raizen-sama had not eaten a human in over seven centuries, which was why he was slowly dying. And though Enma would've liked to have at least one good conversation with the ancient Mazoku, he was also anticipating his death.

Enma knew that once Raizen died, his kingdom would likely collapse. With the loss of one of the three, the more ambitious of the remaining two would most likely attack his last rival to claim complete control of Makai. And when one of them would fall, hopefully Yomi, Enma could finally order his armies to march into Makai. Though he was under no illusions to think that he could completely conquer Makai, Enma felt certain that his armies could seize a significant portion of the world before the remaining King could send his own armies to retaliate. But with help from the many barrier experts that Enma had employed, Reikai could easily throw up a newer and much stronger Kakkai barrier so that they would be able to hold their new lands more securely. At least, that was Enma's plan for the past three centuries and he was quite confident that it would work.

Now, however, he wasn't so sure.

While on a routine mission of rescuing Ningenkai from yet another insignificant group of C-class pests, Koenma's little group of misfits and criminals had found an unregistered human reiki-user in the bawls of Makai. And a powerful one if the Tantei's report was to be believed, that he'd incinerated the strongest of the C-class with only a single Reigun blast. That information by itself was only partially worrisome.

But his name was Raizen. _That_ was very worrisome.

Early in his campaign against Makai, decades before the Kakkai barrier was erected, there had been whole communities of youkai-ningen hybrids, commonly called hanyou. Those despicable, _unnatural_ creatures had been some of the most powerful and ferocious of all fighters of their time. They _far_ outshined their youkai ancestors in power and strength, the sheer cruelty they could perform put even their human ancestors to shame. Enma had lost nearly his entire army hunting them down and killing every single one that they'd found evidence of. He'd even gone so far as to kill all the hanyou's family members and especially offspring to prevent the hanyou genes from spreading through humanity. It was to prevent the their cruelty and power from ever surfacing again and endangering the rest of humanity.

Many of Enma's assassins had spent their entire lives hunting down all strands of remainder hanyou blood, centuries after the last true hanyou had been slain. Now, almost two centuries since that last hanyou had been killed, Enma had finally begun to believe that he'd cleared out the taint of the youkai from the human bloodlines.

So why was this one human named after one of the Three Kings?

The sad fact of the matter was that Enma had no answer to that question. His spies in Makai had not reported anything unusual happening lately. His son, though still quite naïve in the ways of the universe in many ways, was a very competent leader. So if he was confident in his statement that there was no way a colony of human reiki-users somehow living and surviving in Makai, he was more than likely correct. That meant that Enma had only two clear choices to make at this point.

Kill Raizen or observe him.

Since the boy had actually aided in the success of the overall mission to kill the Four Saint Beasts, his motives were clearly not fueled by the darker half of the human heart. The boy had even complied to the Tantei's wish of being assigned an escort for the duration of his stay in Ningenkai. And yet, he hid the bulk of his power behind a shield that was as impervious as titanium alloy.

Either this Raizen was an extremely brilliant politician, and he was using these acts to hide his true intentions or his motives were exactly as they appeared on the surface. With humans, one could rarely know for certain until it was too late.

Even in the darkness, Enma's already deep frown grew noticeably deeper. He found that he could not justify extinguishing this boy's existence just yet. All he could do for the time being was to keep a _**very **_close eye on this boy to determine where his true allegiances lay, as quickly as possible.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ningenkai  
5:00am**

Loud explosions detonating in the midst of the Dark Forest awoke Genkai from her peaceful slumber instantly. Reflexes honed by a lifetime of fighting and training allowed the elderly woman to jump out of her futon, throw on a more sturdy gi, and sprint out into the forest to investigate the scene. All that in less than two minutes of waking.

Sprinting barefoot through the cool dirt and rough grasses, she followed her awareness to where she sensed a large amount of unfamiliar ki flaring up from seven different sources. The sheer amount of each of the seven ki was considerable, each one bordered on the same level of her own current strength. If she was forced to fight against even one opponent like that, Genkai had little doubt that a significant portion of the Dark Forest would likely be destroyed. And even she would be hard pressed to defend against seven individuals how all were the same strength as herself!

Seeing a bright blue glow emitting through the darkness ahead of her, she knew she was almost there. Jumping up into the tree canopy, she came to an abrupt halt as she surveyed the damage done. More than quarter of a kilometer of forestland had been destroyed, the trees and various plant life having been smashed or crushed. The topsoil of the forestland had been blown away from numerous explosions that were evident from the dozen or two craters that littered the area. But it was the sight before her that made her pause in interest.

That new boy that Keiko had brought up to her temple last night was in the center of the demolition zone that had once been a forest. What was his name again? Oh yes, Raizen. But that wasn't what caught her interest. It seemed that he was fighting six copies of himself all at once. _He knows the Maruchi-badii?_

Dressed in his usual tan gi, the seven Raizen were a chaotic jumble of bodies. They were sprinting around each other dazzling speeds that she was having a tough time following. From what she could sense, each of them seemed to have an equal amount of reiki inside their bodies. Yet one of them seemed to have a significant portion more than the other six. Focusing on this one, she quickly realized that this one most likely the real Raizen, especially since the other six were coordinating their attacks against him.

_He woke me up at __**five **__in the __**morning **__for this?_ She realized, feeling a wave of bitterness wash over her, followed by reluctant admiration. _I'm getting too old for this kind of crap._

Lifting her hand, she shot a respectably powerful Reigun bullet into their midst. She was far from surprised to see her blast was quickly blocked by the original Raizen. But because his strength was currently split between the six copies, he was unable to knock her reiki bullet aside like he'd done with Keiko's last night. Instead, he was forced to just stand there and let the energy burn itself out against his crossed arms.

Looking up to where the blast had come from, the seven Raizen all called cheerfully, "Ohayo, Obaasan!"

"Do you have any idea what _time_ it is, _dimwit?_" Genkai demanded irritably from where she still stood on the tree limb.

"Ano, little after five-ten in the morning?" one of the Raizen answered, scratching his temple as he tilted his head to the side. "Why?"

"While I appreciate the fact that you're clearly trying to train," she snapped, letting her usual morning bad attitude color her voice. "I would've _greatly _appreciated getting another _two hours of sleep _in before you started _making this __**racket!**_"

"Gomennasai, Obaasan!" all seven Raizen answered, bowing slightly with looks of embarrassment. "Some times I forget just how…_loud_ my training regime can get. I'll try to keep it quieter from now on."

"See that you do," she said with a tone of finality. Turning to return back to her temple, Genkai called over her shoulder, "but since I'm already up, feel free to continue as you were."

"HAI!!"

Three instantaneous explosions of pure sound and shockwaves helped propel the old psyche into the air as she leapt back towards her waiting futon. _I hope this doesn't become a routine around here in the near future_, she thought bitterly. _This could get __**very**__ annoying_.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**9:42pm**

He had watched her with silent curiosity from the rooftops for nearly ten hours. It had been several hours since she'd finally left that accursed building known as the Sarayashiki Junior High School. He could tell from her various postures and body language that she had only remained in the building out necessity. Though it was even a wonder that the teachers allowed her inside the building since her 'school uniform' was not even correct one.

Almost immediately after the final bell had rang, she'd fled the building at damn near a sprinter's pace. But rather than return home, she went straight to a café and changed into her favorite outfit. Afterwards, she did a systematic beat down of every single punk who dared even approach her. Though, based on her expression, as well the responses of the boys once the fighting was over, it was clear that this was a daily occurrence for them.

But for the most part, Keiko seemed to avoid heading home. She'd even gotten herself some dinner at a restaurant not too far away from that _horrid_ place called the mall. In fact, Keiko was seemed so determined to avoid going home that she even took out her assignments from school and began working on them. Then, as dusk began to settle upon the vast city and darkness began filling the evening sky, she finally decided to pack up and leave.

As she finally reached the backdoor of a small restaurant and house, Keiko came to a halt outside. Rather than enter, she seemed to take a long time just standing there, apparently thinking. Raizen could sense behind that door was a person, an elderly woman who was more than likely Keiko's mother. Judging from the erratic vibes her reiki aura was giving off, the woman was most likely extremely angry about something.

Turning around suddenly, Keiko looked straight up to where he was standing on a power pole. The look on her face showed neither surprise nor anger, only a deep annoyance. It made him idly curious for how long she'd been aware of his presence since he'd been taking careful steps of hiding ever since he'd entered the city, not even the buffoon had sensed him…at least he didn't think he had.

Smiling cockily, he raised his arm in greeting as she continued to throw her annoyed glare at him. Raizen had a sneaking suspicion that if they'd not been in such a populated area, she would have launched a Reigun blast straight at him. Honestly, that girl had a _real_ problem with her temper!

Just as Keiko was about to rush up to him, the door behind her opened to reveal a slightly plump but rather plain looking woman. Her face was contorted in clear signs of anger as she spotted her daughter in front of her. Before Keiko could react, her mother had grabbed hold of the back of her shirt and hauled her forcefully inside the house, slamming the door shut behind them. Seconds later, the backroom of the house erupted with sounds of a fierce and loud argument.

_So that's why she was putting off going home_, Raizen realized with arched eyebrows. He knew that once long ago she had a better home and parents than he had. But it would seem that something had happened in the years since he'd left that created some kind of rift between her and her mother.

As the shouts inside the house began to escalate, Raizen shook his head and leapt away. As interesting as it was to see Keiko's daily life, an argument between a concerned parent and a temperamental child was not something he wanted to ever see again.

Bouncing from one rooftop to the next, he cut across the city at speeds that not even the fastest race car could reach. He had one last stop to make before returning to Genkai's temple for the night.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**10:00pm**

It was nestled up on a hilltop, covered in trees that swayed gently in the winds of the mountain. Far from city whose lights were glowing brightly in the night off in the distance, the only sounds that disturbed the silence of the scene were those of nature. It was as peaceful a place as one could hope to find in such an overpopulated country.

It was nothing truly significant, just a large rock that was jutting out of the ground at an unnatural angle. Based on the moss and plant life that grew around the jagged boulder, one could see that this rock had been recently disturbed from its resting place some time in the recent past but had long since settled down.

Standing a respectful distance away from the boulder, Raizen crouched down and gently placed a freshly picked wild flower upon the small mound resting in the shade of the boulder. Stepping back slightly, he settled down upon his knees and bowed deeply, nearly digging his forehead into the damp earth.

Because his face was bowed, the silent tears falling from his eyes were well-hidden. Speaking out in a voice that ached with the pain of a child missing his mother, he spoke softly the same three sentences he'd said last time he had come here.

"I'm back, kaasama," he said, tears falling freely. "…I'm so sorry…Please forgive me."

Only the swaying trees were witness to Raizen's weeping over the grave of his long-dead mother.

xxxxxxxxxx**XXXXXXXXXX**xxxxxxxxxx**XXXXXXXXXX**xxxxxxxxxx**XXXXXXXXXX**xxxxxxxxxx**XXXXXXXXXX**xxxxxxxxxx

**(Author's Note)** Well, here it is. The next chapter. I hope you all like it. I wonder how many of you will spot some of the hidden and not-so-hidden things that are going on in this chapter and what they could hold for the future. I eagerly await your responses!

Kaasama--honorable mother  
Maruchi--multi  
Badii--body, buddy

Next chapter: Lamenting Beauty


	12. Lamenting Beauty

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 12: Lamenting Beauty_

**Two years earlier…**

Quietly humming a soft tune to herself, the seagreen-haired maiden of ice continued her graceful and unhurried trek through the seemingly never-ending grasslands. There was a very strong wind blowing fiercely from the west, sweeping across the grasses like a tsunami and trying to blow away all things not properly fastened to the earth. That included even the formal light blue and white kimono that the girl was wearing.

Though the expression on her gentle face could only be called serene, the thoughts that were drifting through her mind were anything but. Her quest to find the one and only person she felt she could trust and could even understand her plight had thus far been unsuccessful.

Yukina was something of an enigma to her fellow ice youkai. The gentlest thing to call most Kōrime-youkai could only be _detached_. They neither showed affection to others nor allowed affection to be felt from others. It was this detachment from the world that enabled them the full use of their icy youki. By feeling no emotion whatsoever, they could be spared the horrible sensations and feelings of loss; for it was rampart emotions that caused the misery of their brethren.

Despite being born and raised with mother's sisters, Yukina was still fathered by a hi-youkai, fire demon. And though the use of her youki wasn't hindered in the least, she was never able to ever fully freeze her heart in the same method as the elders wished her to. Yukina cared, she grew to love and feel the love of those around her. Though it had started out small, her affection for the small animals she played with when she was still very young had done nothing to sway the elder's disapproval. And the fact that she had grieved over the loss of those small animals when she'd learned that they'd froze to death in an especially cold snowstorm had caused great concern for the elders, whom had been behind the sudden storm. What followed was a gradual falling out between Yukina and the rest of her community. She grew to hate them for their cold, uncaring ways.

That was why she was seeking her twin brother.

Though he was supposed to have died when the elders had cast him out, her mother's friend had told her that she'd seen him when he'd somehow returned. He was alive and _very_ strong, especially to have made it all the way back to the floating island of snow alone. Not only did Yukina wish to meet him, but to ask him to complete the self-fulfilling prophesy the elders had always recited.

But so far, no matter how far she traveled or how many other youkai she encountered along the way, she never seemed to get any closer to him. In fact, she was steadily beginning to believe that he was no longer in Makai. Maybe he'd moved onto Ningenkai for some reason? That was why she was heading this way. This endless prairie led to one of the higher levels of Makai. That would be her last journey before she made the jump through one of the portals for the Human World.

A pair of unexpected scents swept along by a surprisingly fierce wind and a series of rapid explosions quickly brought the korime out of her thoughts. Yukina spotted monstrous plumes of smoke rising into the sky in the direction that the wind and explosions were coming from. She easily realized that an incredible battle was being fought in that area. Normally she'd have avoided battles because she disliked fighting.

Yet there was something…appealing about that strange scent which was causing her to take several tentative sniffs to identify the smell. Yukina, who by principle appalled eating meat, was a little surprised when she realized the scent was making her mouth water. Driven by a long-repressed youkai instinct, she began quickly but cautiously making her way over to…visually identify the originator of the appetizing smell.

She crept forward, using the grasses' movements to cover her approach. She could sense a pair of powerful ki signatures. They were fluctuating continuously as the explosions grew louder and closer. Climbing to the top of a large hill, Yukina came to an abrupt halt as she took in the sight before her. The miles-wide plain that lay ahead of her was charred and burning uncontrollably, throwing the noxious black smoke up and adding it to the raging clouds overhead. And in the center of the inferno was the twosome who were most likely the cause the destruction.

Even without the suffocating heat and smoky air racing around, burning her eyes and obscuring her vision, Yukina was awed by what she saw. The clashing figures below her were traveling so fast and battling ferociously that they were barely recognizable blurs of speed around each other, every time they closed in on one another six or seven spontaneous explosions filled the air. One of the figures seemed to blasting one ball of pure ki after another, causing large explosions when they hit the ground and creating a wide network of craters around them. At the same time, its opponent responded with wave after wave of furious fire that only added to the inferno around them. And despite that they fighting at speeds she could only imagine, Yukina had the vague sense that this battle was about to come to an end. Both the fighters' ki was very quickly being used up.

And then…it ended.

The figures came to a halt so suddenly that it took a second for Yukina to realize the fight was over. One of them had fallen to the ground, while the other was holding what seemed to be a weapon threateningly at the fallen one's heart. But rather than give the final blow, the victor stepped back and tossed the weapon to the fallen one with an obvious air of carelessness.

As Yukina watched, the pair began talking to one another, clearly ignoring the devastation that they'd inflicted upon the environment. Since they were in the dead center of the expanding wildfire, they were surrounded by countless craters and ashes, effectively protecting them from the fires. It wasn't until Yukina watched the victor drop to the ground to sit next to the one it'd defeated that she realized two things. The first was the victor was the one that giving off that…interesting smell. The second was that at some point during the fighting, she'd started walking towards them.

Using a small amount of her youki to cool the air around her and to extinguish the flames ahead of her, Yukina slowly approached the pair. Apparently her slow arrival did not go unnoticed, the defeated being looked up and quickly spotted her emergence from the flames. The person looked to be a young and rather short hi-youkai with long and extremely spiky black hair with a patch of white in the front. His black robes were torn and charred from the recent battle, sticking to his body from his sweat like a second skin. His expression was fierce and was nicely accented by a pair of bright garnet eyes. For the briefest of moments, his expression changed to what could only be honest surprise. But a split second later it shifted to cool indifference before he looked back at his companion, causing Yukina a bit of confusion. Did he know her?

However, her attention was almost instantly switched to the strange hi-youkai's companion who noticed her when his friend looked away. What Yukina saw was something that surprised her. The boy, little more than twelve or thirteen-years-old, was dressed in a gi that might've been a light tan color prior to the fight. His body was covered in muscles that nearly all other children his age wouldn't develop for another ten years. Long, dark hair that easily reached his upper back was a gaudy mess, even that which was pulled back into a low ponytail. Yet he had easily the most beautiful hazel brown eyes that she'd ever seen. Overall, he was definitely one of the cutest boys she'd ever seen before.

"Hey there!" the boy called once she was close enough to hear him over the roaring flames. "How's it going?"

Stopping several paces away from them, Yukina gave them a formal bow as she said, "Hello, I'm Koorime no Yukina. It's very nice to meet you."

"I'll say!" the boy said, smiling broadly as he stretched his badly injured body. "Nothing like a good chill to ease off some muscle pain. Arigato, Yukina-chan!"

Yukina couldn't help but blink in surprise at the endearing term the boy had just called her by. Was he socially inept or was he just trying to rude? The large and clearly honest smile on his face did little encourage the possibility that he was being rude. In her puzzlement over his inappropriate form of address, she didn't notice the hi-youkai send a very fierce warning glare at the boy.

"Don't you think you should at least introduce yourself before you start flirting, dimwit?" the hi-youkai asked in a snide tone, refusing to respond to Yukina's reflexive glance.

"Ha! At least I'm not the dimwit who lost his grip on his own sword, kusoyaro!" the boy snapped, an arrogant sneer on his face. Turning back to Yukina with an attempt at a soft smile, the boy said, "I'm Raizen and Mr. Hothead over there is Hiei…Ano, is there something you wanted?"

Blushing slightly at the sudden realization of just _why_ she was standing before these two strangers, Yukina shook her head slightly before she finally realized the true extent of their injuries. Kneeling down next to Raizen, Yukina gently touched his cheeks with her hands as she said, "Please hold still. I can use some of my youki to heal your wounds."

Nodding slightly, the boy ceased all movement as he stared into her bright garnet eyes. Channeling her icy youki from her softly glowing hands into his body, Yukina watched with a small amount of amusement as he seemed to shiver slightly from the unexpected cool touch of her youki throughout his overheated body. After a moment, the worst of his cracked or broken bones and muscle tears were knitted back together.

Scooting away with a slight smile, she watched as the small preteen gently began exploring the thoroughness of her work. Despite not having his cuts and burns healed, he turned and flashed another dazzling smile before launching himself at her and giving her a heartfelt hug of appreciation. Even though the speed of his lunge surprised her due to his clear exhaustion, she returned his hug warmly.

"Hmph, you have absolutely no shame," Hiei snorted, clearly disapproving Raizen's actions.

Turning his head and sticking out his tongue childishly, Raizen said, "You're just jealous the pretty Korime didn't heal you first, hi-teme!" Though Yukina couldn't see it, she was quite certain that a smirk had crossed the boy's face. "Jeez, you're acting like a _stupid brother_ protecting his sister from the _evil human_ who beat you!"

_Human?_ Yukina only now realized why the small boy in her arms had her nearly drooling in hunger and why his scent was so intoxicating. But how could a small human child have gotten this far into Makai without being eaten? Sure, he was clearly powerful, but the vast numbers of human-eating youkai would've eventually worn down his stamina, right?

Quickly returning her attention to the conversation, Yukina watched in partial confusion as the short hi-youkai's face twisted slightly in repressed anger at the young boy, whom had quickly tightened his hold on Yukina to probably protect himself as much as her from Hiei's wrath. Then, snorting again, Hiei stood and retrieved his sword from where it lay on the ground.

Without turning around, Hiei said, "Raizen, I've made my decision. This will likely have been our last spar for some time. When I'm ready, I will be looking for you…don't die until then."

Finally releasing Yukina, Raizen climbed to his feet. His action caused the fire demon to glance behind him to see his sparring partner and only friend give him a thumbs-up with a confident smile. "You bet, Hiei. Just don't try to kill that certain person I told you about or I'll have to come in all vigilante-style to save the day and stop the evil demon. Deal?"

Smirking, Hiei turned and nodded. "As long as I don't _kill_ her? Agreed…but only if you keep your hands to yourself, _understood?_"

Raizen's answer was a seemingly innocent expression that clearly said: 'who, me? Never!'

Without another word, Hiei turned and started walking away, disappearing into the inferno that still raged around them. He didn't even stop when Yukina called out, asking if she could heal his wounds as well. She was actually considering running after him to do so when a firm but gentle hand caught her shoulder.

"Let him be, Yukina-chan," Raizen said, his demeanor had a seriousness about it that seemed out of place on the strange but overly cheerful boy she'd been holding only a few moments ago. "It would only hurt his pride if you tried to heal him. Besides, he isn't really hurt _that_ bad."

Despite not really understanding, Yukina nodded in submission.

For lack of a better reason not to, the two of them began a long trek back towards the way Yukina had come from. Both of them knew that the flames that were scorching the grasslands would likely continue burning for the next few days, maybe even weeks, before they finally reached the ends of the plains and were extinguished. And unless they could fly (very quickly), it would be too dangerous to attempt to bypass the flames. It would be best to wait before continuing.

Yukina at first was rather uncomfortable having the boy walking beside her. His very presence was almost enough to cause her to give into her baser instincts and attack out of hunger. But his cheerful personality was as endearing as it was disarming, quickly causing her to learn how to ignore her hunger. The fact that she knew he was far stronger than he let on also helped in curbing those desires of course.

When they'd reached the beginnings of a large forest, it was almost completely dark out as night and sudden tropical storm set in. As soon as they were in the dense foliage, Raizen sprinted ahead and disappeared from sight.

_I guess that's as far as he'll accompany me_, Yukina thought miserably. Even though she wanted her unknown twin brother to kill the other korime, she was still very lonely and craved companionship. That was why she didn't complain when it became clear that Raizen was following her back to the forest.

But almost as soon as he'd vanished, Raizen returned with a knowing smile on his face as he pulled her forward. After some discomfort and weaving through the thorns and sharp branches of the bushes, Yukina found herself standing in the entrance of what appeared to be a massive hollow tree. There were clear signs of this tree being used as shelter too. A small fire pit, stacks of discarded logs and branches to one side, indentations in the soft earth and wood floor near the fire pit, even some scattered bones. Despite the rather unkempt appearance, it seemed cozy and dry which was surprising for the rainstorm that was drenching the forest.

And Raizen walked into the hollow tree with the same kind of familiarity a person would of their own room in a house. This was where he lived, even if for only a short time.

"So, what is a pretty lady like you doing this far from Koorime?" Raizen asked, his small smile once again back in place as he set about trying to get a fire started. "Last I heard, the Koorime was three levels down and drifting east towards the Forest of Fools."

Blinking in surprise, she couldn't help but ask, "How do you know that?"

"I was hoping to challenge a good ice-youkai to fight sometime next month," as he was saying this, a small blush suddenly lit up his face as he glanced away in embarrassment. His next words were scarcely above a whisper. "That is if Natsume-chan doesn't decide to drop in."

"Natsume?" Yukina asked, reluctantly curious. "Who's that, Raizen-san?"

"Ah! No one of any importance!" Raizen cried out, giving up on getting the fire started momentarily. His whole face was rapidly turning a startling shade of red as he waved his hands in front of him.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Yukina asked, honestly unable to keep the humor out of her voice as she watched the young boy's face begin to practically glow red while he started yelling out denials. Such a powerful reaction to a 'simple' question only confirmed her suspicion and amused the Korime all the more.

"So, what're you doing way out here?" Raizen repeated when he finally calmed down, once again trying to get the fire started. From there the conversation continued on until well into the night. After a small dinner of rye bread and some of the few edible berries of Makai, they drifted off to sleep.

That was merely the first night of several weeks together that the pair would share while waiting for the fires of the battle to die out. It was the start of a strong friendship between the two of them. Yukina eventually learned of Raizen's past and his ultimate goal of defeating his father to regain his lost identity. Raizen 'learned' of Yukina's desire to find her lost brother, while trying to hide the fact he knew who she was looking for.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Present day, two weeks after Raizen's arrival  
Mount Honetadare, Tarukane Gonzo's manor  
6:39pm**

In all his life, Toguro had never truly held much appreciation for music of any kind. The focus of his life had always been and likely always would be fighting, killing, and strength absolute. Yes, some music was indeed soothing to listen to. But he felt he'd given up the choice of being 'soothed' when he chose to become what he was now, and so he and his older brother were the only two among the crowd of weakling humans to not pause every so often to listen to the gentle, serene melody. Offhandedly, Toguro recognized the notes and pitches of the music as those played by wind-instruments. So the song that he could hear even from the helicopter landing pad was likely to have come from a flute or clarinet.

As he, with his older and smaller brother perched on the customary spot of his left shoulder, continued to follow Tarukane into the massive mansion, Toguro listened in on the conversations of his 'employer' and the aide.

"Sakashita, I thought I told you to take that damned thing away from the bitch," Tarukane was ranting, clearly extremely annoyed that he was still forced to listen to the music.

"Gomennasai, Tarukane-sama," the aide responded crisply, his face and voice perfectly neutral. "We have tried to seize the ocarina numerous times, but there's a barrier around it that prevents us from even touching it without being extremely injured."

"Haven't you tried knocking it out of her hands?" the hideous black-market trillionaire demanded, growling dangerously. "Or just crushing it?"

"Yes sir," Sakashita nodded. "I'm afraid that even when we did knock it away from her, the barrier still didn't allow us to touch it. And whatever it was made of is strong enough to withstand being hit by several sledgehammers…we couldn't even put a scratch on it, sir."

"I see," was the growled answer.

Tarukane, though he did have an appreciation for classical music, hated the songs played by the korime that he'd captured a month ago. At first, he had allowed her to keep the instrument because he felt that he could get the cold bitch to play him some music every so often. But her songs were always filled with such incredible sadness and despair that it enraged him when he realized that she was purposely spreading her misery upon him and his compound. Now he wanted the damned ocarina destroyed at all costs, yet it seemed that no one but the korime could even pick it up!

As Tarukane and Sakashita donned heavy wool jackets to protect against the extreme cold that was likely to come, Toguro reflected on what he'd just overheard. Clearly this ice-youkai had some friends in high places back in Makai, if the small hints that he'd heard were any indication. For an inanimate object to have a selective barrier, an extremely powerful youkai would need to donate a vast portion of their own youki to fuel it. And this donation was not given lightly; there were countless examples throughout the history of all three worlds where the donator died due to the high strain and rapid depletion of their ki reserves. Not even Toguro himself would've dared doing such a thing, neither when he was human or now as a youkai.

Then there was the fact that this instrument, this ocarina, was made from some kind extraordinarily resilient matter. To be able to withstand being smashed after repeated blows of sledgehammers was no small feat. The ocarina must've been crafted from the bones of an ancient seashell-youkai from the upper levels of Makai. These particular youkai had long been extinct, but their shells were among the strongest known material in Makai. However, these shells had one weakness. Something that he could exploit quite easily…if need be.

Feeling the temperature suddenly plummet like a cannonball through water, Toguro returned his attention back to the present. After politely refusing the aide's offer for a wool jacket, Toguro spotted the korime at the end of the hall in her talisman-covered cell. He had to restrain himself from snorting at Tarukane's pigheaded ignorance. Those talisman cards may have had the potential to fatally wound ice-youkai, but to fill such a relatively small space with so many cards would've drastically weakened their effectiveness. In fact if that beautiful young maiden had even the slightest bit of combat training, she could've easily used her youki to overload the cards' barriers and caused them to explode.

As he approached her, ignoring the weak barrier that she erected around herself, he easily spotted the ocarina. She was holding it almost lovingly in her lap. Now he knew his suspicion was correct: that ocarina was of great personal value to her, probably given to her by a very dear friend. Although he had tried for five decades to kill his heart, Toguro was never fully able to. It was this unconditional compassion that he'd hid away from even himself that prevented him from lashing out and snatching the ocarina away from her.

Instead he merely scratched her cheek hard enough to draw blood, but received absolutely no reaction from the girl. When Tarukane informed him of all their previous attempts at causing her to cry through pain, Toguro silently resigned himself to do what he really didn't wish to do.

Apparently his dear aniki seemed know what was going through his mind as well because the small demon began to quietly giggle to himself. His brother enjoyed the pain of others far too much, even when they were both still human.

Channeling a considerable portion of his youki into his hand, Toguro-otouto waited until the girl glanced at his glowing hand. Then he struck, knocking her off the chair she'd been sitting on, the sudden jolt caused her to lose her grip on her beloved instrument.

Looking up with wide garnet eyes, Yukina let out a gasp of horror as she spotted the tall youkai holding her ocarina, not seeming to feel the electricity that was dancing wildly across its surface and his still-glowing red hand.

"This ocarina was a gift to you from a very close friend, wasn't it?" the demon asked, his tone indicating he knew it was the truth, regardless of her answer. "And the fact that no one had been able to take it away has given you a small reason to hope."

"Please, give it back!" Yukina cried out, climbing to her feet in what she knew was a futile attempt to retrieve it.

Before she'd even made it halfway up, the small demon on the man's shoulder raised his hand. With startling speed, the demon's fingers extended and wrapped themselves tightly around her petite arms and neck, nearly choking her. Lifting her off the ground with all the ease of raising a feather, the small demon's sickly giggles grew slightly louder as he drew her closer to his brother's glowing hand.

"Your own stubbornness caused this to happen," the big youkai said in a neutral voice. Then he crushed the ocarina, shattering it to dozens of little pieces as a massive wave of ki exploded out of the instrument in all directions.

"_Yukina-chan!" twelve-year-old Raizen called out, his smile wide as usual. "I've got something special for you! Here! This is so you know I'll always be ready to come to save you! So please take good care of it, okay?_"

Raizen had said that before they'd parted ways two years ago. He had realized that she was very lonely and wanted to do something to cheer her up. After all, not only was she the sister of his friend, but she was also one of the kindest souls he'd ever met. She deserved to be happy. So he had the ocarina made and infused with his reiki so that she'd know that he'd always be with her in some way. And she had held the ocarina very close to her heart because it was one of the few gifts she'd ever received from anyone.

Now it was…broken.

She was alone again…

"_**NO!!**_" Yukina wailed as the small demon dropped her to the ground. A few tears had fallen from her eyes for several seconds before she managed to regain some small portion of control. Even if she had just lost one of her few connections to someone dear, she refused to allow the man who was the cause to get what he wanted.

As Tarukane greedily collected the small number of Hirui stones that were created, Yukina continued to sob, her body shaking violently from the force it was taking to prevent herself from crying. She managed to ignore the trillionaire's snide comments but when the youkai who just destroyed one of her treasures tried to give some advice, she couldn't take it anymore.

"No," she said in response to his advice to learn to cry. "I…refuse…and you…will be sorry…you just did…that!"

She looked up and sent the worst glare she could manage up at the youkai as he turned to face her. Rather curious at the sudden vehemence in her statement, Toguro eyed her carefully. She wasn't going to attack, he knew that automatically. And the glare that she was giving him was laughable at best, and rather embarrassing due to how weak it seemed to be. "And why do you say that?"

"Because I…know he's coming," Yukina said with no trace of hesitance in her sobbing voice or gaze. "He'll save me…and kill you…for what you've done."

As his brother let out a giggle at the girl's attempt of scaring them, Toguro turned back towards Tarukane's still retreating back. "I rather doubt that. The one who gave you that instrument is likely still in Makai, trapped behind the Kakkai. You are alone, korime-san."

Without another word being spoken, the brothers left the still sobbing girl behind them. The elder was positively giddy from watching the beautiful girl sobbing over the loss her little toy. The younger was trying to repress long-buried memories of another beautiful girl.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Genkai's Temple  
6:57pm**

Genkai once again found herself drawn out into the wilds of the Dark Forest by numerous loud explosions. Unlike what had happened that first morning, she was watching the young man train himself into the dirt with an experienced interest. And it was definitely more entertaining to watch than playing any of her old video games to pass the time.

Though Genkai had never been an expert on hand-to-hand combat, she had enough experience with it to be suitably baffled by Raizen's style…or lack thereof. He never did the same maneuver twice, never showing a preference for dodging or jumping or taking a direct attack and his library of reiki attacks were as diverse as they generally were wicked in nature. If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought that she was watching an especially skilled youkai training. She even found herself wondering occasionally if she should join him, just to see how she'd fare against him.

However, his current training was at a level that even she was a little hesitant to join in. He had secured a thin but sturdy cable from one end of the clearing that he'd made to the other. While balancing upon that very thin cable with nothing but his reiki, he was also in the midst of fighting against three clones of himself, two of which were also on the cable with him. To her eyes, it appeared that even he was having some trouble with this type of training since none of his clones gave him a moment to properly recover, pressing their attacks relentlessly.

After dodging an especially vicious slash from a Reiken one of his clones had been utilizing, Raizen had been able to knock that clone away. Only to be hit in left shoulder by a high-speed Reigun bullet. His slightly overextended body, coupled with the force of impact from the bullet, was more than enough to throw him off-balance and cause him to topple off the cable. Landing in a crumpled heap on the ground, Raizen idly glanced in the direction that the bullet had come from and spotted the one clone that wasn't positioned on the cable. That clone wore a smug grin at its accomplishment of knocking him down.

"Chikuso!!" he moaned, dropping back to the earth in a boneless heap. "That one would've beaten my record!"

"And what would that be?" Genkai asked, walking forward with a curious gaze.

"Ten-point-three-seven minutes without falling off," he answered, just gazing up at the beautiful blue sky above him. "I hope to one day beat the record of one of my friends back in Makai. Her record was nine hours, forty-two minutes, and four seconds without falling off."

"Dimwit," Genkai said, restraining herself from smacking her head. "At the rate you're going, it'll take you decades to even get close to that far."

"So what?!" Raizen demanded, glancing over at her slightly with a small glare before grinning. "Even if I can't do it, at least I'll be getting some kickass training in!"

"That's one way of looking at it, I guess," the elderly woman submitted with a reluctant smile on her face. "Can I ask you something, boy?"

"You can ask," he answered, eyeing her curiously. "But I might not answer."

Nodding, she continued, "What is your true goal? Day-in and day-out, you are either out here training and generally disrupting the peace of my home and lands or you're out flirting with my apprentice."

Raizen couldn't help but snort at that statement. "If you call making a few observations about her 'unbeatable' fighting style—which has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, by the way—and then getting the shit beat out me as 'flirting,' then I guess yes."

Despite the unintended insult due to her being Keiko's sensei, Genkai couldn't help but chuckle quietly for a moment. Truthfully, Keiko was a much better fighter than she had been at her age. But because she developed her style fighting street thugs and punks, she tended to lose her fighting style more as the brawl continued by relying more on her speed and direct attacks than trying to exploit weaknesses. And since Genkai's style had been built completely around the Reikodan and other reiki techniques, Keiko's form became even more skewered.

Not quite as distracted by Raizen's comment to drop the issue, Genkai resolutely pressed on. "Are you training so desperately because you want to gain as much strength as you can…or is there something else you want in Ningenkai, Makai, or even your life?"

Looking up at Genkai with a carefully blank face for a moment, the young man considered her question. Then he glanced away, still lost in thought. Seeing the boy was lost in his head, the renowned psychic wasn't sure to be relieved or worried.

"You don't know anymore, do you?" she asked quietly.

"No, no," Raizen said distractedly. His eyes began to glaze over as he began muttering in steadily incoherent sentences. "You're kind of right. I _do_ want to become extremely strong as quickly as possible…but only because I _have_ to… There was something I…_lost_ a long time ago that I _desperately_ want back…still not...strong enough…and my friends in Makai…very good…protect and watch out for…not strong enough…properly do that…_I have to get stronger, no matter what!_"

It was those last few statements that put Genkai's mind at ease. Though he hadn't explicitly stated what he was trying to accomplish, the fact that he had other people that he wanted to protect greatly relieved her. His heart was in the right place, and given his probable role models as he grew older, he was doing what he thought he could to ensure their safety. Yes, there was hope for him after all.

Just as she was about to offer to spar with him to pass the time, a sudden powerful gust of ice-cold wind blew over them. But the chill of the wind froze them straight to their bones due to the high amounts of ki that positively drenched it.

As the wave of ki passed, Raizen gasped loudly as he turned to face the direction it had come from. "Yukina-chan?!"

Before she could question or glance in his direction, the teenager vanished in a burst of speed that she couldn't follow, even with her eyes. But she could see his progress as he barreled through the thick forest and over several mountains with all the finesse of a bulldozer before he finally disappeared over the horizon.

_Yukina?_ She couldn't help but question in alarm. Was this girl the origin of that monstrous ki-wave?! Only the release of extraordinarily powerful ki could generate waves that swept over the nearby landscape. But not even…_that man_, who had been unbelievably strong all those years ago, could've made a wave that carried for _miles_. What did that say about this Yukina girl?

_I wonder how the next act of the play will turn out_, Genkai thought as she headed back to her temple. _This one is certainly becoming interesting._

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Mount Honetadare  
8:42pm**

Landing silently on a high branch, he looked down at the small campfire. Taking in the three figures below, he resisted the urge to snort derisively. Trust the toddler to send him on a little delivery service in an attempt to distract him while he sent the Tantei to do what should've been his own job! Too bad for that his little 'mission' had been what actually alerted him to what was going on and the ki-wave that pointed in which direction to head.

Sitting down on the limb, he settled in for the night. Even if he dearly wished to go rescue his sister, Hiei had little desire to do so in the dark. Not only that, but Yukina would likely be quite sleepy and would only hinder them if things didn't go well and they needed to run. And then there was the person who had just landed on the tree branch opposite of his.

"I see you felt that ki-wave as well," Hiei said bluntly, not bothering to open his eyes and look over at his friend.

"Well, considering I almost died to give it to her, I think I'd be more than capable to knowing that she'd be in trouble if it broke," Raizen answered absentmindedly as he took in the scene below them. Keiko, Kuwabara, and Botan were all sitting around a campfire, eating some snack food that the shinigami had stored in her bag. With a certain air of seriousness that was normally nonexistent from him, Raizen asked, "How do you want to do this?"

"The mansion she's being kept at is two miles ahead of us," Hiei explained, his Jagan glowing slowly from under his headband. "There are at least fifteen youkai there as well, probably hired thugs…I say we let the Tantei and the buffoon clear the way for a bit before we go in."

"You think they can handle that?" Raizen asked quietly. "Sure, they seem talented enough, but they're still rather outnumbered."

"Then I suppose you'll have no complaint on stepping in and saving them, would you?" Hiei asked, a small sneer crossing his face. "Though, I wouldn't be surprising if Yukimura-san castrated you for doing so."

"Yeah?" Raizen snapped, easily rising the bait. "At least I wouldn't have to worry about keeping my identity a secret when the buffoon's right there beside you, Hi-kusotare."

For the first time since his arrival, Hiei opened his eyes and glared at his friend. "We'll see who has the last laugh, baka-kusotare."

Their argument would've likely deteriorated from there if they were in a less serious situation. Instead, Raizen just shrugged his shoulders before positioning himself enough to get as much comfort out of sleeping on a branch while not falling off in his sleep. In silence, they fell asleep to the sounds of the small fire and conversations taking place below. It was a rather peaceful ending for the day.

Tomorrow, a lot of youkai were going to die.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**(Author's Note)** Sorry about the long wait. I just have had a long-running block when it comes to this story and Chuuten. I wish it wasn't so, but what can I do? Then again, if I didn't have this block, I probably wouldn't have started writing Final Duty. Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

Also, I've posted a poll on my homepage. Do any of you want me to add in some power levels of the characters (kinda like DBZ) or not? If you do, please go check the poll.

Aniki—big brother  
Chikuso—damn! Dammit!  
Hi-kusotare—Fire Bastard  
Koorime—Ice World (unless I'm mistaken)  
Kōrime—氷女, literally Ice Woman  
Kusoyaro—shithead, bastard  
Otouto—little brother


	13. Entering the Manor

**The Last Mazoku  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 13: Entering the Manor_

**Tarukane Gonzo's manor  
8:00am, next morning**

Everything was going more or less according to their true employer's plan. After that weakling Hiru's not-so-unexpected death, Tarukane grew angry that he'd somehow been jilted in his hiring of their gang. He demanded an example of their strength by killing a formidable genetically-engineered beast. Even if it wasn't part of the plan, Toguro would've done the act regardless; Tarukane had the nerve to question his strength?! And he wasn't as stupid as the hideous fat man seemed to think; the killing had most likely been to find an excuse to not pay them their full price, which was expensive even for the trillionaire.

After the poor beast's brutal death, Tarukane's insatiable greed was aroused at the thought of gambling a 'rigged' game against his black-market partners and associates. Toguro just quietly remarked against the idea while mentally questioning how the man had become so rich. It would seem their employer had yet again been correct in his gamble that Tarukane would assume he was the _only one_ in the _entire_ world of Ningenkai who had any inkling of Toguro's power.

Tarukane was now seated in his conference room with Sakashita pouring him some expensive wine and the demon brothers standing somewhat in the darkness at his side. In front of them, five video screens lit up as the meeting between the Black Book Club began.

"How're you doing, boys?" Tarukane asked absentmindedly as he sipped his wine. "Must admit that I'm surprised to see all five of you on such short notice."

Feeling unusually uninterested, Toguro just stood silently and let his mind block out the conversation going on between the gossiping and soon gambling billionaires. Instead, he allowed his mind to wander over what little he knew about his approaching opponents, a boy and a girl. In truth, not much was really known about them. Only that their skills in battle had allowed them to storm the Four Saint Beasts castle and kill the demons there within only two days time, leaving the castle mostly in ruins by the time that they had finished.

There was also some gossip among the youkai of the upper levels of Makai that they had even defeated the Human Hunter, Rando. Toguro had never met Rando, but he had heard that despite Rando's relatively weak power level, he knew the techniques of nearly one hundred psychics which could make him a formidable opponent for nearly any fighter, regardless of battle strength and raw power.

However, Toguro wasn't certain how much of that information was accurate. Being unable to journey to Makai himself, all the rumors he and his aniki heard were all fifth or sixth-generation from various members of his Apparition Gang who were still able to travel to Makai, thus not at all up to date. For all he knew, the Sankishu would kill these children before they even reached their likely objective: the Korime. Oh well, he'd just have to study their styles and keep an open mind. He was most curious about this female fighter, since a competent reiki-warrioress is quite rare in Ningenkai.

A sudden violent rise of reiki, followed the disappearance of several of his underlings' life forces snapped Toguro out of his contemplative state. Apparently, it was noticed by Tarukane, who'd just finished setting the stakes of the current round against his intruders.

"Very strange," Toguro said in a level voice. "Six of my fighter's youki have disappeared all at once." He ignored the ugly man's shocked exclamation as he brought his hand to his chin and glanced at the television that was now searching for the battle taking place. He couldn't help but feel a sense of relief washed over him.

Maybe these fighters would be worth his time after all.

The Last Mazoku – **Yu Yu Hakusho** – The Last Mazoku

**Tarukane's manor  
8:28am**

After purposely tripping the series of poorly-disguised landmines, Keiko and Kuwabara both walked at an unhurried pace through the flames and conflagration. Any normal person would've likely been badly burned or be suffering from the extreme heat that was swirling around them. But because they were both protected by a sphere of their reiki, neither Keiko nor Kuwabara felt any sort of discomfort.

Clearing the inferno that was raging around them and emerging at the trillionaire's front gate, they paused to stare up at the mansion. With the sphere of reiki still shining brightly around them, they made for an intimidating sight for most normal people due to the ease of which they left the flames. It was a show of power and theatrics that both of them privately enjoyed; teenagers _loved_ showboating.

As they began approaching the mansion, Botan dropped out of the air and resumed walking at their sides. Not a word was spoken among them as they opened the doors and strode into the finely carpeted and designed hallway. It was as they were absently looking around for any security or traps of some kind that movement from the end of the hallway caught their attention.

A beautiful female demon stepped out from around the corner and walked towards them. There was a peculiar gleam in her eye as she surveyed the trio, her eyes landing on Kuwabara in a most _unsettling_ way.

"Ohayo, intruders," the demoness purred. "I'm Sankishu no Miyuki, how'd you like to fight?"

"What?" Kuwabara demanded in a wonderfully flabbergasted voice. "Sorry, I don't fight girls. It's against my code."

"Oh really?" Keiko asked in a sugar-sweet voice as she glanced at him with a deadly gleam in her eyes.

"Y-You know what I mean, Yukimura!" Kuwabara managed to get through his stuttering. Turning back to Miyuki, he said in an extremely serious voice, "Come on, Keiko, let's just walk past her."

"Oh, a gentleman," Miyuki said in a voice that was as clearly threatening as it was calm. "A spawn of insecure males seeking to _own_ their women."

"Th-That's not it!" Kuwabara countered, immediately on the defensive side. "Nothing like that. Guys just _don't_ fight girls!"

"If you're gonna be difficult about it," Keiko said in an annoyed voice. Kami, she hated it when Kuwabara started one of his moral rants! "Just leave it to me."

"But Keiko—!" that was as far as Kuwabara managed to get before the blur that was Keiko launched itself towards the demoness. Miyuki just pouted slightly, clearly annoyed that she wouldn't be able to pound the big lug around.

Jumping backwards as she yanked out a strand of her hair, she used her youki to transform it into a long whip and sent it snapping forward at her attacker. Miyuki was rather surprised when the brown-haired girl slipped past the whip and delivered a gut-wrenching punch to her stomach, knocking her upwards and through the flimsy ceiling material. Keiko easily followed her up through the hole and watched dispassionately the she-demon tried to climb back to her feet after that punch.

Rather that get to her feet entirely, the horned demoness remained in a crouched position with her back to Keiko. The burst of youki that flared from the demoness was Keiko's only warning as the girl's blue hair suddenly stood on end. A mere second later, her youki-charged hair began shooting sprays of lance-long missiles in the general direction of the Reikai Tantei. After a moment of the barrage, Miyuki halted her attack and turned to survey her handiwork, panting slightly from the large amount of youki she'd used. What she saw wasn't the skewered corpse of the bitch, just a badly shredded ceiling and no body.

"Where is—?" was as far she got before a crashing sound behind her interrupted her question. Erupting through the ceiling tiles was the missing girl who had her hands clasped together over her head and brought them down with punishing force upon Miyuki's skull, ramming her savagely through the flimsy ceiling material and to the floor below. The force of impact was enough to create a small crater of broken wood and cracked stone tiles when Miyuki hit.

Landing lightly a short distance away from the downed demoness, Keiko stared coldly at her opponent. "You are a really weak and a despicable creature, you know that, right?"

"Wh-What's that—supposed to—mean?" Miyuki wheezed through her pain as she again struggled to stand up. Just how strong was this human bitch?! Two separate blows and she already almost down for the count!

"I could sense from the youki burst you just had that you're not nearing as feminine as you want us to believe," Keiko said, her powerful gaze not wavering in the least. "Even as demons go, you are one of the most _disturbed_ I've yet had the _misfortune_ of fighting against, _bastard_."

"Why you!" Miyuki growled, sounding every bit as insulted as she felt. She found the strength to rise and charge the bitch who'd managed to figure out his secret. He would end her existence and protect the truth about him in one final blow!

Sidestepping the maddened demon's attack, Keiko spun around in a fast kick that struck powerfully against her enemy's neck, snapping the bone and cartilage easily. The powerful heel kick sent Miyuki flying through the air and smashing through a nearby wall, a blow that would've killed him if he wasn't _already_ dead.

"_Yukimura!_ What's _wrong_ with you?!" Kuwabara demanded, appalled by the violence his friend just dealt out. "How can you be so mean to a _girl_ like that?!"

"Simple," Keiko answered offhandedly as she watched Kuwabara and Botan come running up to her. "Because she is a _he_."

That statement silenced any immediate retort of Kuwabara as the boy quickly turned to gaze down at the dead demon with a careful scrutiny. Botan, however, couldn't help but ask, "But…how do you know?"

"The feel of his youki," Keiko said simply. "The difference between male and female is that males tend to have a certain 'roughness' about them while females are a bit more 'serene.' That includes demons too."

As Kuwabara decided to search a bit more 'thoroughly' (and ended up being reprimanded brutally by Botan with her oar), Keiko noticed something interesting. A security camera was trained down upon them, no doubt having just witnessed the entire fight and conversation. Keiko just smirked up at it as Kuwabara suddenly noticed it and called smugly, "Two more and we're calling after you!"

The Last Mazoku – **Yu Yu Hakusho** – The Last Mazoku

**8:35am**

The two of them entered the manor's backdoor as silently as shadows. It was pathetically easy for them to disarm and incapacitate the criminal trillionaire's security and other personnel as they came across. Unlike Keiko and her friends, Raizen and Hiei were being as discreet as possible as they worked their way through the giant mansion.

The place was an absolute maze to them and because they couldn't sense Yukina's youki, they effectively felt like blind hamsters in a lab maze. Wanting to cover as much ground as possible in order to get the girl out of harm's way as quickly as possible, the two had split up with Hiei searching the upper levels while Raizen went through the ground floor, carefully avoiding Keiko's team and the security cameras. All these little problems were quickly causing both of them to lose any patience that they may have had.

Coming upon yet another extravagantly-fashioned room that was lacking in their desired target, Raizen was growling loudly in a rage and vented his pent up wrath by knocking the next room's door clean off his hinges as he stormed through it. This room, though empty, contained something that quickly attracted his attention. Resting upon a beautiful royal-purple clothe were six jewels that seemed to shine faintly in the light of the room. Raizen instantly recognized these for what they were: Yukina's tears of grief and sorrow.

Something that many others, ningen and youkai alike, didn't about Korime was that there were many different types of Hirui stones that they could provide when they cried, all depending on their emotions. Though the most common of Hirui created were done so out of grief and pain, which resulted in white and yellow-tinted opaque coloring, there were at least two others that Raizen knew of.

There were the white and red-tinted stones cried from when a Korime was feeling a deep sadness when a dear friend had to leave them, usually in death. In fact, Raizen still kept the jewel that Yukina had cried for when they'd last seen one another, usually tucked under his gi while attached to a small necklace he wore. It was one of his most precious of possessions.

But there was also a white and blue Hirui stones that a Korime could create whenever they gave birth to children and these were considered the most beautiful and valuable of all. Entire _nations_ (ningen and youkai alike) had been torn apart and destroyed in the distant past over the possession of just a single one of these jewels.

Thus when Raizen realized just what the stones on the table were, a deep rage sprang to life in his person. These could've only been created from under torture, whether emotional or actual. Though he'd known that they were most likely doing this, seeing the proof of the matter was still enough to send him into a maddening rage. Scooping the Hirui stones up, he deposited them within his traveler's bag over his shoulder. Thugs who forced someone as wonderful and kindly as Yukina didn't _deserve_ these! He would make sure the bastard behind all this paid for this! With his life as a down payment for any forgiveness for what he'd done to her.

Something tickled against his awareness, it was so soft and gentle that he might've missed it. This sensation was one that he'd come to associate with only one person he'd ever known and it was something that he recognized quickly, despite the two year absence since he'd last felt it. It was Yukina! They were finally moving Yukina out of her cell.

Raizen turned and leapt towards where he now sensed her presence. She was moving a fairly quick pace towards what must've been some basement level. With no regard to the damage he inflicted, the demon-raised teenager launched himself through one barrier after another as he hurried towards Yukina. The annoying barriers blocking his path from his destination formerly being the manor's walls and floors.

_Hang on, Yukina-chan, I'm coming._

* * *

(**AUTHOR'S NOTE**) I know, I know. It's taken forever for me to update, and even now it's still not up to where I wanted the chapter to be. But it's a special day for me and I wanted to post something, even if it wasn't fully written. But I guess this incomplete chapter could also be used as a build up to what we all know is coming in the next chapter eh? I hope you all enjoyed this _ridiculously_ short piece.

As promised a long time ago, here's the power levels of everyone involved. Please note that although Keiko and Kuwabara's level change, they still aren't up to their _full_ strength yet.

High E-class—100  
Low D-Class—100 - - - - - High D-class—3,000  
Low C-class—3,000 - - - - - High C-class—40,000  
Low B-class—40,000 - - - - - High B-class—100,000  
Low A-class—100,000 - - - - - High A-class—200,000  
Low S-class—200,000 - - - - - High S-class—500,000 & beyond

Keiko, base power—4,000  
Keiko, full attack power—8,000  
**Keiko, overall— C- class**

Kuwabara, base power—6,000  
Kuwabara, full attack power—11,000  
**Kuwabara, overall— C- class**

Apparition Gang—700-1,000  
Sankishu—(Miyuki) 4,000, (Inmaki) 3,000, (Gokumonki) 5,000


End file.
